ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy of different methods of reducing jaundice in patients with low malignant obstructive jaundice undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinicopathological data of patients admitted to the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery of The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University from January 2014 to June 2020 who were considered to have low malignant obstructive jaundice before operation and confirmed by postoperative pathological examination as pancreatic cancer, ampulla cancer, duodenal cancer or carcinoma of the lower segment of the common bile duct. Patients were devide into percutaneous transhepatic cholangial drainage (PTCD) group and endoscopic retrograde biliary drainage (ERBD) group according to preoperative biliary drainage (PBD) methods. In order to reduce selection bias, SPSS propensity matching module was used for propensity score matching analysis. The age, basic diseases (hypertension, diabetes), biochemical indexes, time of reduction of jaundice, total hospitalization time, and postoperative complications of PBD and pancreaticoduodenectomy were compared between the 2 groups. Then, the patients were divided into pancreatic cancer group and non-pancreatic cancer group (including ampulla cancer, duodenal carcinoma and lower common bile duct carcinoma) by tumor type, and compared the effect of two groups of patients receiving different PBD methods. Results A total of 84 patients, 43 males and 41 females, were included in this study, 58 (69.0%) patients with PTCD and 26 (31.0%) patients with ERBD. After PBD the serum total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, γ-glutamyl transferase, and alkaline phosphatase of the PTCD and the ERBD groups patients were lower than before PBD, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Alanine aminotransferase did not change significantly before and after PBD with PTCD (P>0.05), but decreased significantly after PBD with ERBD (P<0.05). Aspartate aminotransferase did not change significantly before and after PBD with ERBD (P>0.05), but decreased significantly after PBD with PTCD(P<0.05). The PBD time and total hospitalization time of the ERBD group were shorter than those of the PTCD group, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The incidences of PBD related complications (cholangitis and pancreatitis) in the ERBD group were higher than those the PTCD group, and the incidence of bleeding in the ERBD group was lower than that the PTCD group, but the differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). In the patients with pancreatic cancer group, the PBD time by ERBD was shorter than that of the receiving PTCD, the difference was statistically significant (P=0.006). In the non-pancreatic cancer group, the total hospitalization time and PBD time of patients receiving ERBD were shorter than those receiving PTCD, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). In all patients, the median survival time of PTCD group (14 months) was shorter than that in ERBD group (18 months), P=0.002; pancreatic cancer group (12 months) was shorter than non-pancreatic cancer group (16 months), P=0.034; in non-pancreatic cancer group, ERBD group (20 months) was longer than PTCD group (15 months), P=0.008. Conclusions ERBD can shorten the waiting time of operation and hospital stay as compared with PTCD, and has a longer median survival time. It can be used as the first choice for PBD in patients with low malignant obstructive jaundice.