Objective To investigate the clinical value of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) combined with CT enhanced scan in the evaluation of the curative effect of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in the treatment of patients with liver cancer. Methods 40 patients with liver cancer treated in our hospital from January 2012 to January2015 were taken as the research objects and were treated with TACE. In postoperative 4 to 6 weeks, DWI and CT enhanced scan were performed. The results of postoperative digital subtraction angiography (DSA) tumor staining again were taken as the golden standard to analyze the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of DWI and CT enhanced scan and the combination of the two in the evaluation of tumor residual or recurrence. Results After TACE, 95 lesions were found by MRI or CT reexamination, 77 positive lesions were confirmed by DSA and 18 lesions were negative. Taking the results of DSA were taken as the golden standard, the sensitivity of DWI combined with CT enhanced scan was 100.0%, specificity 94.4% and accuracy 98.9%. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of CT enhanced scan were 84.4%, 88.9% and 85.3%, respectively. Conclusion The detection rate of DWI combined with CT enhanced scan in tumor residue or recurrence after TACE was higher than that of DWI or CT enhanced scan, which can be used as a major method in the evaluation of the curative effect of TACE in the treatment of patients with liver cancer