Abstract: OBJECTIVE To investigate the distribution of pathogens causing surgical site infections in patients with colorectal cancer and analyze the clinical characteristics so as to provide objective basis for development of and prevention and control programs. METHODS A total of 200 patients with colorectal cancer who underwent the radical surgery from Jan 2013 to Dec 2014 were recruited as the study objects, then the incidence of surgical site infections, infection sites, and distribution of pathogens were investigated, the pathogens were identified by using VITEK-2 COMPACT automatic microbial identification system, and the related risk factors for the infections were observed. RESULTS The surgical site infections occurred in totally 45 patients, with the infection rate 22.5%; the patients with superficial incision infections accounted for 80.0%. The related factors for the surgical site infections included the diabetic mellitus, high body mass index, long operation duration, and Dukes stage. Totally 57 strains of pathogens were isolated from the patients with surgical site infections, of which 80.7% were gram-negative bacteria, 19.3% were gram-positive bacteria; the Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus epidermidis were dominant among the isolated pathogens, accounting for 56.1%, 8.7%, and 7.0%, respectively. CONCLUSION There are a variety of factors associated with the surgical site infections. It is necessary for the clinician to take effective interventions aiming at the high risk factors and choose sensitive antibiotics for treatment of the infections so as to ensure the therapeutic effect.