Objective To explore the effect of evidence-based nursing education on the critical thinking ability of nursing students. Methods One hundred and two junior college nursing students participated in this study. They were divided into the experimental group and the control group. All of them received standard clinical nursing practice training, and students in the experimental group also attended evidence-based nursing training. All the students completed the Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory before and after training. Results Students in the experimental group had improved critical thinking ability compared with the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (Plt;0.05). Conclusions Evidence-based nursing education can improve the critical thinking ability of nursing students.