Objective To explore the clinical value of MRI in the diagnosis of cervical cancer. Methods The clinical data of 224 patients with suspected cervical cancer treated with pelvic MRI examination in the obstetrics and gynecology department of our hospital from May 2013 to April 2016 were analyzed retrospectively. Through the analysis of the MRI image, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy rate of cervical cancer and uterine infiltration, vaginal invasion and lymph node metastasis were observed and compared by MRI diagnosis and postoperative pathological diagnosis. The accuracy of MRI staging and surgical pathological staging and preoperative clinical staging were also compared. Results Postoperative pathological examination was taken as the gold standard, and the sensitivity and specificity were respectively 97.06% and 80% in the cervical cancer, and 80% and 96.20% in the uterine infiltration and 87.72% and 93.88% in the vaginal invasion and 89.04% and 96.18% in the lymph node metastasis by MRI diagnosis. The differences were statistically significant in the comparison of MRI staging and surgical pathological staging and preoperative clinical staging (χ2 =14.394 and 14.595, P<0.05), but the comparison of MRI staging and surgical pathological staging was not statistically significant (χ2 =0.198, P>0.05). Conclusion MRI has high accuracy in the cervical cancer diagnosis and high sensitivity and specificity in the determination of uterine infiltration, vaginal invasion and lymph node metastasis. Compared with postoperative pathology, MRI has higher accuracy in the cervical cancer staging, and can provide theoretical basis for cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment.