Objective To predict clinical chemotherapy sensitivity of primary non-small cell lung cancer（NSCLC） by methylthiazal （MTT） tumor chemosensitivity assay method in vitro and detection of multidrug resistance gene1 （MDR1）, and provide reference for clinical individualized treatment. Methods We selected 80 fresh primary NSCLC samples from NSCLC patients who underwent surgical resection in Zibo Central Hospital Affiliated to Binzhou Medical College between January 2009 and December 2011. There were 46 male patients and 34 female patients with their median age of 54 （29 to 81）years. Viable NSCLC cells obtained from malignant tissue were tested for their sensitivity to cisplatin （DDP）, gemcitabine （GEM）, docetaxe （DOC）, etoposide （VP-16） ,and vinorelbine （NVB） using MTT assay in vitro. Fluorescent quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR） was used to analysis the expression level of multidrug resistance gene1 （MDR1）. Results After exposure to antitumor drugs, morphologic changes, decrease of metabolic activity, and apoptosis were detected in NSCLC cells. MTT results showed that different individual cancer cells had different chemosensitivity to antitumor drugs, and cancer cells also had different chemosensitivity to different antitumor drugs. Inhibitory rates of cancer cells exposed to DOC, GEM, and VP-16 were significantly higher than those of cancer cells exposed to DDP and NVB （42.5%±9.5%, 40.5%±6.5%, 38.4%±7.6% versus 31.5%±8.5%，32.5%±7.8%, P＜0.05）.The positive rate of MDR1 in tumor tissues was 40.0% （32/80）. The expression of MDR1 was not associated with tumor histological type, degree of differentiation, lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. The expression of MDR1 was associated with resistance to NVB （χ2=5.209，P=0.022），GEM （χ2=4.769，P=0.029），VP-16 （χ2=4.596，P=0.032），and DDP（χ2=6.086，P=0.014）, but not associated with resistance to DOC（χ2=0.430，P=0.512）. Conclusion MTT chemosensitivity assay can effectively predict clinical chemotherapy sensitivity. Detection of MDR1, together with MTT chemosensitivity assay, can more accurately predict NSCLC chemosensitivity and be a guide for individualized chemotherapy of NSCLC.