AIM:To contrastively analyse CT and Emery methods for senile cataract lens nuclear grading. METHODS: Totally 111 cases(132 eyes)with senile cataract were graded by CT value of lens nucleus and Emery methods,they were divided into CT group and Emery group, the uncorrected visual acuity of the first day after operation,the corrected visual acuity of the first week after operation,corneal edema of the first day after operation,the actual power(AP) and the effective phaco time(EPT) of corresponding grade in two groups were compared. RESULTS:At 1 day after surgery,the vision had statistically significant differences between the EmeryⅢ,Ⅳ group and CTⅢ,Ⅳ group.For AP and EPT, EmeryⅢ group was higher than CTⅢ group, Emery Ⅳ group was lower than CT Ⅳ group, differences were statistically significant. At 1 day after surgery,the corneal edema had statistically significant differences between the EmeryⅢ,Ⅳ group and CTⅢ,Ⅳ group. CONCLUSION: For Ⅲ,Ⅳgrade nucleus,CT nuclear grading method can be used as an effective quantitative indicator of Emery nuclear grading to grade nuclear hardness.