Objective:To study the significance of dissection and exposure of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) in thyroid surgery. Methods :The clinical data of 1 082 patients who had undergone operations on thyroid were retrospectively reviewed. All cases were routinely operated with dissection and exposure of RLN.Results:Six cases had injury of RLN (0.5%),3 cases showed parathyroid insufficiency（0.3%）and 2 cases had injury of the superior laryngeal nerve(0.2%) ofter operation.The incidence of operative complications in thyroid surgery was closely related with if exposure of the RLN.Conclusions:Exposure of the recurrent laryngeal nerve is a key measure to decrease injury of parathyroids, superior laryngeal nerve and recurrent laryngeal nerve during thyroid surgery.