Objective To identify the prevalence and related factors of emotional disorder of inpatients in Department of Spinal Surgery . Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2015 to April 2016 to screen 300 patients undergoing spinal surgery. Huaxi Emotional-distress Index was used to assess the emotional status of the patients, and a self-designed general condition questionnaire was used to evaluate the demographic data. Results The prevalence of emotional disorder of patients in Department of Spinal Surgery was 14.3%. Anxiety was the main type of emotional disorder. Logistic regression analysis showed that the education level and pathogeny were the main factors of emotional disorder. Conclusions In Department of Spinal Surgery, the inpatients’ psychological status is poor, and anxiety is the main emotional disorder. Emotional disorder is related to education level and pathogeny. Timely psychological treatment should be used in order to comprehensively improve the level of recovery of the inpatients.