Objective To compare the value of different imaging methods in the screening of breast cancer, and to analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with breast cancer. Methods 100 cases of patients with suspected breast cancer who were admitted in our hospital between January 2014 and December 2015 were selected as study objects. Before surgery, all patients underwent X-ray, ultrasound and CT examination. The surgical and pathological results were taken as the golden standard to compare the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of different imaging methods in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Meanwhile, the clinical characteristics of patients with breast cancer confirmed by surgery and pathology were analyzed. Results 80 cases with breast cancer were confirmed by surgery and pathology, and 20 cases were with benign tumors. For clinical pathological characteristics of breast cancer, the lymph node metastasis rate, positive rates of ER and PR in patients ≤ 35 years old were 64.71%, 29.41% and 32.35%, respectively. Compared with those in patients > 35 years old (32.61%, 65.22%, 56.52%), there were significant differences (P<0.05). For values in screening of breast cancer, the diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy of X-ray were 71.25% and 67.00%, respectively. Compared with those of ultrasound (85.00%, 83.00%) and CT (87.50%, 86.00%), there were significant differences (P<0.05). Besides, the specificity of CT diagnosis was significantly higher than that of X-ray (P<0.05). Conclusion The sensitivity and accuracy of ultrasound and CT in the diagnosis of breast cancer are better than X-ray, and the specificity of CT is the highest. There are differences in clinical pathological characteristics between patients diagnosed with breast cancer in different age groups. The younger patients (age ≤ 35 years old) have such characteristics as high lymph nodemetastasis rate and low positive rates of ER and PR.