Objective To explore the effects of family support nursing on patients with advanced esophageal cancer undergoing intensity-modulated radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy. Methods 66 cases of patients with advanced esophageal cancer who were scheduled to receive concurrent chemotherapy with intensity-modulated radiotherapy and their families from December 2014 to December 2017 were enrolled in the study and were divided into experimental group and control group according to the drawing method, with 33 cases in each group. Control group was given routine nursing model, and experimental group was added with family support nursing on the basis of routine nursing. The Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) and (Strategies by Used People to Health Promote (SUPPH) were used to evaluate the nutritional status and self-efficacy before nursing intervention (within 48 h after admission) and after nursing intervention (after 2 months of intensity-modulated radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy). Results After nursing intervention, the PG-SGA scores in the two groups were significantly higher than those before nursing intervention, and the score in experimental group was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). The SUPPH scores in the two groups were significantly higher than those before nursing intervention, and the score in experimental group was obviously higher than that in control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Family support nursing can improve the nutritional status and enhance patient’ s selfefficacy of patients with advanced esophageal cancer treated by intensity-modulated radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy.