OBJECTIVE： To observe the clinical efficacy of taxol combined with cisplatin neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of esophageal cancer and effects on serum tumor markers in patients with esophageal cancer. METHODS： 100 patients with esophageal cancer were randomly divided into control group（50 cases） and observation group（50 cases）. Observation group was given taxol+Cisplatin injection （TP） neoadjuvant chemotherapy， given 175 mg/m2 taxol by intravenous infusion， d1-5. And every 5 d was a treatment course， the regimen was adjusted based on patients’ efficacy； control group was given conventional surgery and TP after surgery， the same usage and dosage as observation group， it lasted for 4 courses. Clinical efficacy，high mobility protein B1（HMGB1）， carcinoembryonic antigen （CEA） and squamous cell carcinoma antigen （SCC-Ag） level in 2 groups before and after treatment were observed， objective response rate， disease control rate， the incidence of toxicity and severe toxicity， incidence of postoperative complications and survival rate of postoperative 1，3 and 5 years were recorded. RESULTS： After treatment， objective response rate in observation group was significantly higher than control group， HMGB1， CEA and SCC-Ag levels were significantly lower than before and control group， HMGB1 and CEA levels in control group were significantly lower than before， the differences were statistically significant （P＜0.05）； there were no significant differences in the disease control rate， chemotherapy-related toxicity， severe toxicity， incidence of postoperative complications， survival rate of postoperative 1， 3 and 5 years and the median survival time between 2 groups（P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS： Taxol combined with cisplatin neoadjuvant chemotherapy can significantly improve the efficacy of patients with esophageal cancer and reduce the levels of cancer-related indicators， with good safety.