Objective: To evaluate the dietary quality for preschool children by diet balance index(DBI_C), and to provide an empirical reference for scientific guidance for a reasonable diet and controlling and preventing iron deficiency anemia(IDA). Methods: During September to December of 2018, 306 left behind children and 598 non left behind children aged 3-6 years old of Anhui Province were selected. Four scoring methods (TS Total Score, LBS Low Bound Score, HBS High Bound Score, DQD Diet Quality Distance) were used to evaluate the dietary quality by DBI_C, and multivariate Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between DBI_C and IDA. Results: The anemia prevalence (AP) was 13.3% among the 3-6 year old children in Anhui rural area, whereas the left behind children (LBC) was 16.7% and the non left behind children was 10.9%, and there was statistical significance of the differences ( χ 2=8.8, P <0.05). There were significant differences of TS[-18.3(25.2，-12.7)，-15.2(-19.8，-8.6)], LBS[25.4(18.3，32.5)，22.7(16.5，30.6)] and DQD[36.8(23.9，43.4)，34.1(27.5，41.0)] in DBI_C scores between anemia group and nonanemia group ( P <0.05). There were significant differences of milk and beans [-5.9(-10.7，-0.4)，-5.0(-8.7，0.2)], animal food [-2.4(-5.6，0.8)，-0.6(3.5，1.9)], food species [-7.5(-9.1，-4.8)，-6.3(-8.0，-2.9)] in food intake scores between anemia group and non anemia group ( P <0.05). Left behind children ( OR =1.27, 95% CI =1.15-1.49) had higher proportions of getting anemia. Meat consumption >3 times per week ( OR =0.81, 95% CI =0.68-0.94) and ≥two types of fresh vegetable consumption every day ( OR =0.84, 95% CI =0.73-0.95) were associated with lower rate of anemia( P <0.05). Conclusion The AP was relatively high in 3-6 year old children in Anhui rural area, especially in those LBC. Anemia should be reduced by improving the caregivers dietary literacy, increasing intakes of animal foods and fresh vegetables.