Objective To explore the time-effectiveness of acupuncture in treating hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (HICH), and to find the best intervention time of acupuncture. Method The eligible HICH patients were randomized into a 2 d acupuncture group, a 7 d acupuncture group, and a 14 d acupuncture group. The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and Barthel Index (BI) were adopted for evaluation, and the clinical efficacies of acupuncture intervened at different time points for HICH were observed. Result The treatment efficacy of the 2 d acupuncture was better than that of the 7 d acupuncture group(P<0.05), and the treatment efficacy of the 7 d acupuncture group was better than that of the 14 d acupuncture group(P<0.05). There were no significant between-group differences in comparing the security indexes. Conclusion Acupuncture is safe and effective in treating HICH, and its efficacy is related to the intervention time, the earlier the better.