Objective To explore the application values of ultrasound and CT in cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer. Methods The clinical data of 92 cases of patients with thyroid cancer treated with surgery in our hospital from October 2015 to October 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were given ultrasound and CT examinations before operation, and given pathological examination after operation. The diagnostic accuracies of ultrasound and CT in the detection of cervical lymph node metastases of thyroid cancer were evaluated by taking the results of pathological examination as the "gold standard", and the images features of ultrasound and CT were analyzed in the detection of cervical lymph node metastases of thyroid cancer. Results Postoperative pathological examination showed that 41 cases (44.57%) were with cervical lymph node metastasis among 92 cases of patients with thyroid cancer. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy rate were 80.49% (33/41), 86.27% (44/51) and 83.70% (77/92) of ultrasound and were 73.17% (30/41), 76.47% (39/51) and 75.00% (69/92) of CT in the diagnosis of cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer. Conclusion Ultrasound and CT both have high diagnostic accuracy for cervical lymph node metastases of thyroid cancer.