Objective：To investigate the preventative measures against recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury in surgery of benign thyroid tumor, with the purpose of reducing the incidence of RLN injury. Methods：Four hundred and eighty cases of benign thyroid tumor diagnosed before surgery were randomly divided into two groups, of which, 232 cases underwent RLN dissection (group A) and the other 248 cases did not undergo RLN dissection (group B). The occurrence rate of RLN injure was compared between the 2 groups. Results：Temporary and permanent nerve injury rates were 1.72% (4/232) and 0.86% (2/232) respectively in group A, and were 6.45% (16/248) and 2.82% (7/248) respectively in group B. The differences of both rates between the two groups were statistically different (P＜0.05). Conclusions：Meticulous surgical dissection and take care of RLN during surgery for benign thyroid diseases can reduce the incidence of RLN injury. Thus RLN dissection is recommended to be performed routinely during operation of near-total thyroidectomy or lobectomy.