Objective: To investigate the indications, surgical techniques and efficacy of selective neck dissection (SND) for papillary thyroid cancer. Methods: The clinical data of 544 patients with early- and mid-stage papillary thyroid cancer (364 cases of stage I, 89 cases of stage II and 91 cases of stage III) undergoing thyroidectomy plus SND were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Of the 544 patients, 150 cases underwent central (level VI) neck dissection only and 325 cases (59.7%) of SND encompassed no more than three nodal levels. Operations of all the 544 patients were done through transverse neck incision. The overall positive lymph node rate was 67.4% (367/544) and separately, the positive rate of VI, IV, III, II and V level was 54.4% (296/544), 44.2% (174/394), 45.9% (181/394), 34.2% (68/199) and 9.0% (6/65), respectively. The positive rate of level VI had no significant difference compared with than that of level IV, III or II (all P>0.05). A single parathyroid gland that was resected by mistake was found in 39 cases (7.2%, 39/544) of specimens, and 86 cases (15.8%, 86/544) had transient hypocalcemia but no permanent hypocalcemia occurred. Twenty-six cases (4.8%, 26/544) had transient vocal cord paralysis but no permanent one was noted. No enlarged cervical lymph node was detected by ultrasound in the 544 patients during the follow-up period of more than 6 months after surgery. Conclusion: It is reasonable to perform SND in patients with early- and mid-stage papillary thyroid cancer. Moreover, SND is a standardized and individualized procedure with a high clinical value.