Objective To evaluate the clinical effects of bi-polar radiofrequency ablation (BRFA) for the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) in rheumatic heart disease (RHD) patients. Methods We involved 96 RHD patients who underwent valve replacement in Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, West China Hospital from July 2014 through May 2015. There were 74 patients with AF, 22 in sinus rhythm. All patients with AF were fully informed of BRFA, in which 40 of the 74 patients received while the other 34 patients refused. The 40 patients with AF who received BRFA were classified into a treatment group and the other 34 patients were classified into a control group. The 20 patients with sinus rhythm were classified into a blank group as well. The clinical effect and quality of life of the patients were analyzed. Results Left atrial diameter (LAD), pulmonary arterial systolic pressure (PASP), and conversion rate of sinus rhythm at discharge, maintenance rate of sinus rhythm during follow-up in patients with AF were significantly higher than those in the patients in sinus rhythm. No difference was found in terms of survival rate, mortality, major complications among the three groups. The treatment group experienced higher scores in physical functioning (PF), role-physical (RP), general health (GH), vitality (VT), social functioning (SF), mental health (MH), physical component summary (PCS), mental component summary(MCS) and total score compared with the control group both at postoperative 3-month and 6-month . At postoperative 12-month, the treatment group experienced higher scores in PF, RP, GH, PCS, and total score compared with the control group. Conclusion AF would enhance the negative impact on structure remodeling in RHD patients. BRFA is beneficial for the conversion and maintaining of sinus rhythm in RHD patients and the decreasing of LAD & PASP parameter as well. BRFA is more beneficial for the improvement of quality of life in RHD patients with AF during one-year follow-up.