Objective To discuss influence of spinal surgery on quality of life (QOL) of patients with late-period spinal metastatic tumor and to explore if spinal surgery could influence on survival time of patients or not. Methods From July 2007 to March 2009, we identified patients who were eligible for the observational study hospitalized in Changzheng Hospital, the Second Military Medical University in Shanghai, China. All eligible patients were divided into two groups depending on whether they would receive spinal surgery or not. Then, all eligible patients completed five QOL assessments using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) Questionnaire when they were diagnosed as late-period spinal metastatic tumor, after 1-month treatment, after 3-month treatment, after 6-month treatment, and after 9-month treatment. Survival time of each patient was also recorded. Results We identified 312 patients who were eligible for the study (surgery group, 147 cases; and non-surgery group, 165 cases). There was no significant difference in survival time between the two groups (χ2=3.167, P=0.075). Within 9 months, the surgery group had significantly higher physical well-being scores, emotional well-being scores, functional well-being scores and total QOL scores than the non-surgery group. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that spinal surgery can significantly improve the QOL of patients with late-period spinal metastatic tumor, but cannot prolong the survival time.