Abstract: OBJECTIVE To explore the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and drug resistance with liquid mycobacterial culture tube (MGIT) combined with M. tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance real-time fluorescence quantitative nucleic acid amplification(Xpert Mtb/RIF) so as to raise the positive detection rate. METHODS The pleural fluid specimens that were obtained from 95 patients who were treated in hospitals from Jan 2014 to Dec 2015 were cultured for M.tuberculosis. The M.tuberculosis strains causing tuberculous pleuritis were detected by MGIT combined with Xpert Mtb/RIF. Totally 42 patients were set as the control group, including 10 cases of malignant tumor pleural fluid and 32 cases of other non-tuberculous pleural fluid. RESULTS Of 95 cases of tuberculous pleural fluid, 3 (3.2%) were positive for acid fast staining microscopic examination, 44 (46.3%) were positive for the MGIT fluid culture, and the mean detection time was 10.2 days. The MGIT fluid culture was negative for the 42 cases of pleural fluid in the control group. The M.tuberculosis strains and the resistance to rifampicin were detected for 44 cases of positive MGIT fluid culture, 44 strains were identified as the M.tuberculosis, 1 strain was resistant to rifampicin, 43 strains were susceptible to rifampicin, and the mean detection time was 2 hours. CONCLUSION MGIT fluid culture combined with Xpert Mtb/RIF can raise the positive rate of detection of M.tuberculosis in the patients with tuberculous pleuritis; the detection of the M.tuberculosis and the drug resistance to rifampicin has high clinical application value and is worthy to be promoted.