Abstract: OBJECTIVE To systematically compare the surgical site infection surveillance systems between China and the United States so as to complete the SSI surveillance practice in China. METHODS The differences in the strategies for SSI surveillance between China and the United States were analyzed through literature review and expert interviews. In light of the current health care condition of China, the feasible approaches to optimize the SSSI surveillance systems were explored. RESULTS The major differences in the SSI surveillance between China and the United State included statistical coverage, diagnostic criteria, post-operative follow-up, information interoperability, assessment of infection status during surgical process and management indexes for surveillance. These disparities reflected divergent approaches to data integration mechanisms and quality control orientations in the development of surveillance systems between the two countries. CONCLUSIONS The study has provided us the solid evidence bases and improvement paths to construct more refined, standardized and internally comparable SSI surveillance system by comparing the SSI surveillance systems between China and the United States.