Objective To investigate the effects of concurrent and sequential chemoradiotherapy on the short and long term survival rates in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods 62 patients with locally advanced NSCLC were randomly divided into observation group (31 cases) and control group (31 cases). The observation group was given concurrent chemoradiotherapy, while the control group was given sequential chemoradiotherapy. The short term effects, adverse reactions, short and long term survival rates and quality of life in the two groups were observed and compared. Results The remission rate (RR) in the observation group was 74.17% which was significantly higher than that in the control group 45.16% (P<0.05), there were no significant differences in the incidence of adverse reactions at stage Ⅲ～Ⅳ (P>0.05), the survival rates of 1, 2 and 3 years in the observation group were 87.10%, 70.97% and 48.39%which were all significantly higher than those in the control group 64.52%, 45.16% and 22.58% (P<0.05), the increase ratio of life quality in the observation group was 29.03% which was significantly higher than that in the control group 6.45% (P<0.05). Conclusion Concurrent chemoradiotherapy which has better effect and higher safety for patients with locally advanced NSCLC, can not only prolong the survival time, but also improve the life quality of patients.