Objective: To investigate the feasibility and assess the cosmetic effect of mammaplasty with displacement of residual glandular tissue following breast conserving surgery. Methods: Breast conserving surgery was performed in 47 patients whose lesion size was less than 3 cm and admitted between October 2009 and November 2011. Of the patients, 36 cases received oncoplastic volume displacement (observation group) and 11 cases had only direct skin closure without treatment of the post-resection defect (control group) following breast conserving surgery. The cosmetic results of the two groups were evaluated after operation and radiotherapy, respectively. Results: All patients were followed up for 9–33 months with median follow-up of 21 months, and no recurrence or metastasis occurred in any of the patients. Three months after surgery, the excellent or good cosmetic outcome was achieved in 31 cases (86.1%) in observation group and 8 cases (72.7%) in control group respectively, and there was no statistical difference between the two groups (P>0.05); three months after radiotherapy, the cosmetic excellent or good result was obtained in 30 cases (83.3%) in observation group and 6 cases (54.5%) in control group respectively, where the cosmetic result in observation group was better than that in control group and the difference between the two groups reached statistical significance (χ2=3.895, P<0.05). Conclusion: For breast cancer patients with tumor diameter less than 3 cm, volume displacement oncoplastic surgery has the advantages of being simple, effective, and minimally invasive as well as having better postoperative cosmetic outcome.