Objective To explore the compliance improvement of rehabilitation exercise for patients after spine surgery. Methods Forty-nine in-patients who underwent spinal surgery between June 1st and July 14th 2016 were selected as the control group and 50 in-patients who underwent spinal surgery between July 15th and August 30th 2016 were selected as the trial group. The control group received conventional nursing for rehabilitation exercise, and the tiral group adopted a series of quality improvement measures for rehabilitation exercise. The compliance of functional exercise, the accuracy of patients’ exercise and the satisfaction with health education of the patients were compared between the two groups. Results The functional exercise compliance in the trial group (complete compliance in 45 cases, partial compliance in 4 cases, non-compliance in 1 case) was higher than that in the control group (complete compliance in 9 cases, partial compliance in 34 cases, non-compliance in 6 cases) with a statistical difference (Z=–6.910, P<0.001). The functional exercise accuracy rate of patients was higher in the trial group [84.00%(168/200)] than that in the control group [53.06% (104/196)] with a statistical difference (χ2=44.060, P<0.001). The patients’ satisfaction with health education in the trial group (4.64±0.49) was higher than that in the control group (4.20±0.89) with a statistical difference (t=3.084, P=0.003). Conclusion The implementation of nursing quality improvement intervention can improve the compliance and accuracy rate of rehabilitation functional exercise of patients undergoing spinal surgery, and improve the satisfaction of patients, which is worth promoting.