Objective To explore the influencing factors of palliation efficacy in malignant obstructive jaundice. Methods Clinical data of 107 patients with malignant obstructive jaundice who treated in Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, from March 2014 to December 2017, were retrospectively collected to analyze the influencing factors of palliation efficacy in 1 week and1 month after operation. Results Multivariate analysis results showed that, hilar obstruction and preoperative albumin level were influencing factors of palliation efficacy in 1 week after operation (P<0.05), patients with hepatic portal obstruction, and low preoperative albumin level had poor effect; hilar obstruction, preoperative albumin and total bilirubin level were influencing factors of palliation efficacy in 1 month after operation (P<0.05), patients with hepatic portal obstruction, low preoperative albumin level, and high total bilirubin level had poor effect. Conclusions The obstruction location, preoperative albumin level, and total bilirubin level are the independent influencing factors of palliation efficacy which played an important role in prognostic assessment.