Objective To compare the clinical value of MRI and CT multi-phase dynamic contrast-enhanced scan in the diagnosis of liver cirrhosis with liver cancer. Methods The clinical data of 34 cases (44 lesions) of patients with liver cirrhosis and liver cancer confirmed by histopathology and treated in our hospital from January 2012 to June 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent MRI and CT multi-phase dynamic scan and the imaging data were complete. The diagnostic efficiency of MRI and CT multi-phase dynamic contrast-enhanced scan in patients with liver cirrhosis and liver cancer was compared. Results There were 44 lesions in 34 patients and 39 lesions were diagnosed by CT. The diagnostic accuracy was 88.64%, 40 lesions were diagnosed by MRI and the accuracy of MRI (90.91%) was slightly higher than that of CT but the difference was not statistically significant (P＞0.05). Conclusion MRI has no obvious radiation damage and can display lesions in many angles and multi directions with short scan time and high resolution. It has higher sensity in the diagnosis of small liver cancer and the qualitative accuracy is slightly higher than that of CT. It can better display blood supply and envelope enhancement features of liver cancer. It can be taken as the preferred diagnostic method of liver cirrhosis with liver cancer.