Objective To study the application of MSCT enhanced scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in evaluating the curative effect of microwave ablation for liver cancer. Methods 55 patients with liver cancer (73 lesions) who were admitted to the hospital from June 2014 to June 2017 were selected as study subjects. All of them were treated by microwave ablation, and MSCT scan, MRI examination and angiography were performed at 1 month after microwave ablation. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of MSCT enhanced scan and MRI in evaluating the curative effect of microwave ablation for liver cancer were calculated with results of angiography as the golden standard. Results Results of angiography proved that 48 of 73 liver cancer lesions reached complete response after microwave ablation and 25 reached incomplete ablation. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy and Kappa value of MSCT enhanced scan in evaluating the curative effect of microwave ablation for liver cancer were 85.42%, 68.0%, 83.7%, 70.8%, 79.5% and 0.54, respectively, while those of MRI were 91.7%, 92%, 95.7%, 85.2%, 91.8% and 0.82. respectively. The specificity and accuracy of MRI examination were significantly higher than those of MSCT enhanced scan (P<0.05). Conclusion MSCT enhanced scan and MRI examination can clearly show the changes of liver cancer after microwave ablation. MRI examination is more accurate than MSCT enhanced scan in evaluating the curative effect of microwave ablation for liver cancer.