Abstract: Objective To discuss the clinicopathological characteristics of retroperitoneal tumors(RPT), and summarize the experience of diagnosis and treatment. Methods We reviewed and analyzed the data of 687 RPT patients between September 1975 to December 2014. Results RPT pathological type was complex: benign tumour: 173 cases, low-grade malignant tumor:44 cases, and malignant tumor: 470 cases. The common primary malignant RPT was liposarcoma(11.6%), leiomyosarcoma(8.7%), malignant fibrous histiocytoma(4.4%). Tumor pathological type was also complex: common benign tumor was teratoma: 5.0%, total benign tumor: 25.2%, borderline tumor: 6.4%, malignant tumor: 68.4%. Primary RPT(592 cases)accounted for 86.2%. Secondary RPT(95 cases)accounted for 13.8%. The clinical manifestation of RPT was complex: the incidence of hemorrhage during operation and viscera combined resection was high. Tumor characteristic, resection degree, differentiation degree were the influence factors for postoperative recurrence of RPT(P＜0.05). Conclusion Improving the complete resection of retroperitoneal malignant tumor is the main measure to reduce tumor recurrence and treat the retroperitoneal tumors.