Objective To analyze the risk factors of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) after distal pancreatectomy (DP) and to explore the effective index of predicting POPF after DP. Methods The clinical data of 120 patients with pancreatic disease who were treated with DP in the Department of Tumor Surgery of Xuzhou Medical University from January 2010 to November 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. The influencing factors of POPF after DP were analyzed by non-conditional logistic regression. Results Of the 120 patients, 15 patients (12.5%) had clinically significant POPF, including 13 cases of grade B pancreatic fistula and 2 cases of grade C pancreatic fistula. The results of non-conditional logistic regression showed that, the soft pancreas and preoperative pancreatic CT value of the pancreas less than 40 Hu were the independent risk factors of POPF after DP (P<0.05). Conclusions Pancreatic texture and preoperative CT value are important factors influencing the occurrence of POPF after DP. Evaluating the preoperative CT value and intraoperative pancreatic texture can effectively predict the risk of POPF after DP.