Objective To investigate efficacy and safety of laparoscopic lymphadenectomy combined with pelvic autonomic nerve preservation in patients with rectal cancer. Methods Seventy-three patients underwent D3 radical resection of rectal cancer with pelvic autonomic nerve preservation from March 2015 to October 2016 in the People’s Hospital of Pengzhou City were collected, then were divided into a laparoscopic surgery group (38 cases) and an open surgery group (35 cases) according to the choice of operation. The intraoperative and postoperative indexes were compared between these two groups, and the urination and sexual functions at preoperation and on month 1 after operation for male patient with rectal cancer were evaluated. Results ① The age, gender, tumor diameter, TNM stage, and tumor location had no significant differences between these two groups (P>0.05). ② Compared with the open surgery group, the intraoperative blood loss was less (P<0.05), but the operation time was longer (P<0.05) in the laparoscopic surgery group. The number of lymph node dissection had no significant difference between these two groups (P>0.05). ③ The anal exhaust time and hospitalization stay in the laparoscopic surgery group were significantly shorter than those in the open surgery group (P<0.05), and the incidences of postoperative infection, intestinal adhesion, and intestinal obstruction were significantly lower in the laparoscopic surgery group as compared with the open surgery group (P<0.05). ④ The IPSS score of urination function and the IIEF-5 score of sexual function on month 1 after operation had no significant differences between these two groups (P>0.05), but compared with the preoperative points, the IPSS score was significantly increased, the IIEF-5 score was significantly decreased in the same group (P<0.05). Conclusion The preliminary results of limited cases in this study show that laparoscopic lymphadenectomy combined with pelvic autonomic nerve preservation in patients with rectal cancer is safe and effective, it has some advantages of mild invasion, lower complication rate, and fast covery.