Objective To investigate the prognostic value of sarcopenia in patients with early non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after surgery and chemotherapy. Methods This study included 592 patients with early non-small cell lung cancer who received lung cancer resection from January 2014 to December 2015, and they were divided into two groups: 473 patients received surgery alone (the surgery group), 119 patients received chemotherapy after surgery (the postoperative chemotherapy group), and the two groups were divided into sarcopenia group and non-sarcopenia group. General clinical data, laboratory data, and imaging data of these patients were compared. Results The median follow-up time of 592 patients was 69.1 months [95% confidential interval (CI) 64.9 - 78.2], and 110 patients were with sarcopenia (18.6%). Multivariate analysis showed that sarcopenia was an independent adverse prognostic factor in the surgery group [hazard ratio (HR) 6.56; 95%CI 1.86 to 14.78; P=0.01]. For patients undergoing postoperative chemotherapy, skeletal muscle mass index was reduced after chemotherapy, and sarcopenia was an independent predictor of poor prognosis (HR 5.77; 95%CI 0.96 to 20.60; P<0.05). Conclusions Sarcopenia is an independent poor prognostic factor for patients with early NSCLC undergoing surgery and postoperative chemotherapy. Assessment of sarcopenia before surgery and postoperative chemotherapy is helpful to improve the prognosis of patients with early NSCLC.