Objective To investiget the necessity of carrying out the education of Tobacco Hazards and Prevention and Control in Chinese universities, and explore the teaching mode of Tobacco Hazards and Prevention and Control suitable for college students, so as to improve the teaching quality and the awareness level of Chinese college students on tobacco hazards. Methods A public elective course on Tobacco Hazards and Prevention and Control was set up in Sichuan University with the teaching mode of scientific popularization education, combining theory and practice. The 43 college students who had completed the public elective course on Tobacco Hazards and Prevention and Control in the autumn semester of 2022 were retrospectively included as the research group (the elective group), and 43 college students who did not take this course in the same period were included as the control group (the non-elective group) by the method of quota sampling. Questionnaire survey was adopted to investigate the basic information, personal and family smoking situation of the two groups of students, evaluate the purpose of taking this course, satisfaction with the course, and mastery of knowledge related to tobacco epidemiology of the students who had completed the course, and compare the awareness of tobacco hazards and the attitude toward tobacco prevention and control between the two groups. Results There was no significant difference in age, gender, education level, place of student source, personal smoking situation, family smoking situation, or secondhand smoking exposure between the two groups (P>0.05). In the elective group, 58.1% of the students chose the course due to their personal interests, and 74.4% of the students were very satisfied with the course. The awareness rates of smoking causing myocardial infarction (97.7% vs. 72.1%) and stroke (97.7% vs. 81.4%), secondhand smoking causing heart disease in adults (97.7% vs. 76.7%), and “low tar not equaling to low hazard” (86.0% vs. 37.2%) in the elective group were significantly higher than those in the non-elective group (P<0.05). The rates of awareness of E-cigarettes being harmful to health and supportive attitude toward smoking being forbidden in public places were high in both groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Carrying out the public elective course on Tobacco Hazards and Prevention and Control in comprehensive universities with the teaching mode of popularizing science education and combining theory and practice can improve the theoretical knowledge and awareness level of college students related to tobacco, which is of great significance to improving the tobacco prevention and control awareness of college students.