Objective To analyze the imaging findings and diagnostic value of X ray, CT and MRI in different pathological types of spinal bone tumors. Methods The clinical data of 52 cases of patients with spinal bone tumors treated in our hospital from March 2011 to July 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were examined with X-ray, CT and MRI. The imaging findings of patients with different pathological types of spinal bone tumors were summarized. Results ①In the study, there were 13 cases of benign bone tumors, mainly distributed in the lumbar vertebra, then in cervical vertebrae, thoracic vertebra, and hemangiomas and fibrous dysplasia were common. There were 15 cases of intermediate bone tumors, mainly distributed in the thoracic vertebra and lumbar vertebra, and osteoblastoma, giant cell tumor, Langerhans cell histiocytosis were common. There were 34 cases of malignant bone tumors, mainly distributed in the thoracic vertebra, then in lumbar vertebra, and plasma cell myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma were common. ②The accuracy rates of MRI in the diagnosis of different pathological types of spinal bone tumors were the highest (76.92%, 80.00%, 83.33%), followed by CT (61.54%, 73.33%, 75.00%), and the overall diagnostic accuracy of MRI (80.77%) was higher than that of X-ray (55.77%) (P<0.05). Conclusion The accuracy of MRI in the diagnosis of different pathological types of spinal bone tumors is the highest. For spinal bone tumors that can not be diagnosed by X-ray and CT, they can be further screened by MRI to reduce missed diagnosis, provide imaging evidences for clinical treatment.