Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognosis of resection followed by chemotherapy compared with chemoradiotherapy for limited-stage small cell lung cancer .Methods The clinical data of 230 limited-stage small cell lung cancer patients with curative treatment between January 2006 and December 2011 were retrospectively analyzed .All patients divided to two group: the resection plus chemotherapy ( S +C ) and chemoradiotherapy ( R +C ) .And the prognostic factors were further analyzed with limited stage small cell lung cancer .The Kaplan-Meier method was used for the survival analysis.Results The overall survival rates of 1-year, 3-year and 5-year were 87.0%, 38.9%, 25.4%, respectively and the media survival time ( MST) 26.0 months.When patients were stratified by clinical stageⅠ+Ⅱ, the 1-year , 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates of S +C group and R +C group were 92.6%, 63.2%, 47.3%and 76.2%, 42.9%, 30.6%, respectively (χ2 =7.851, P<0.05), while those were 88.5%, 26.9%, 10.6% and 86.0%, 25.1%, 25.1%, respectively in stage ⅢA with no significant difference ( P >0.05).In univariate analysis, tumor location, tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, the cycle of chemotherapy , treatment modalities were significantly associated with survival ( RR=1.735, P<0.05).The multivariate analysis only showed TNM stage were independent factors of prognosis .Conclusions The results suggested that resection plus chemotherapy could improve the prognosis of early-stage(stageⅠ+Ⅱ) small cell lung cancer, but patients in ⅢA stage should received the definitive chemoradiotherapy .The TNM stage was still the independent factor of prognosis .