Objective To evaluate the application value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enhanced scanning and mammography in the differential diagnosis of breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Methods The imaging findings of mammography and MRI of 42 patients with clinically and pathologically confirmed DCIS were analyzed retrospectively. The accuracy rates of alone or combined diagnosis of the two imaging methods were analyzed. Results Mammography showed that 71.43% of the patients were BI-RADS grade 4-5, and the typical manifestation was characteristic dense calcification lesions. MRI examination showed that 83.33% of the patients were BI-RADS grade 4-5, and the typical manifestations were non-tumor enhancement and II-III type TIC. With the clinical and pathological examination as the golden standard, the accuracy of mammography combined with MRI in the diagnosis of DCIS (92.86%) was higher than that of mammography (71.43%) alone (P<0.05) and slightly higher than MRI (83.33%) alone(P>0.05). Conclusion Both of mammography and MRI show characteristic manifestations of DCIS and the combined diagnosis can improve the diagnostic accuracy.