Objective To evaluate the safety，efficacy，short- and long-term clinical outcomes of complete video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery （VATS） lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer （NSCLC）. Methods Clinical data of231 consecutive patients with NSCLC who underwent complete VATS lobectomy in the First Affiliated Hospital of NanjingMedical University between June 2006 and March 2011 were retrospective analyzed. There were 132 male and 99 femalepatients with their age of 15-81 （59.51±11.90） years. Preoperative cancer staging wasⅠa in 149 patients，Ⅰb in 50 patients，Ⅱa in 14 patients，Ⅱb in 13 patients and Ⅲa in 5 patients. There were 152 patients with adenocarcinoma，41 patients with squamous carcinoma，23 patients with bronchioalveolar carcinoma，5 patients with adenosquamous carcinoma，4 patients with large cell carcinoma，and 6 patients with other carcinoma. Follow-up data were statistically analyzed，and short-and long-term survival rates were calculated. Results No perioperative mortality was observed. Operation time was 60-370（199.14±51.04） minutes，and intraoperative blood loss was 10-2 300 （168.19±176.39） ml. Thirty-seven patients had postoperative complications including air leak，pulmonary infection，atelectasis，arrhythmia，subcutaneous emphysema andothers，who were all cured after conservative treatment. Mean number of dissected lymph nodes was 11.14±5.49，and meannumber of explored nodal stations was 3.66±1.52. There were 51 patients （22.08%） whose postoperative cancer staging wasmore advanced than preoperative cancer staging. Postoperative hospital stay was 3-36 （10.79±5.13） days. Primary causesof prolonged postoperative hospitalization included pulmonary air leak，pulmonary infection，preoperative concomitant chronic pulmonary diseases （COPD，asthma），and moderate to severe pulmonary dysfunction. A total of 228 patients werefollowed up for a mean duration of 40.83 months （22-82 months），and 3 patients were lost during follow-up. Overall 5-yearsurvival rates were 85.78%，52.54% and 32.70% for stageⅠ，stageⅡand stageⅢ-Ⅳpatients respectively. Five-year cancerfreesurvival rates were 80.00%，45.37% and 20.99% for stageⅠ，stageⅡand stageⅢ-Ⅳpatients respectively. ConclusionThe advantages of VATS lobectomy include smaller surgical incision，less injury and postoperative pain，quicker postoperative recovery and shorter hospital stay. Long-term survival rate is comparable to previous international and Chinese studies. VATS lobectomy can anatomically achieve complete tumor resection and systematic lymph node dissection. VATS lobectomy will become a standard surgical procedure for NSCLC patients.