Objective: To explore the effect of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) on postoperative rapid recovery, stress response, and complications of patients with laryngeal cancer. Methods: A total of 120 patients with laryngeal cancer admitted to First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2019 to March 2021 were selected as the study subjects. The patients were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group according to the random number table method, with 60 cases in each group. The control group was given routine nursing intervention, and the observation group was given ERAS nursing intervention. The postoperative recovery, stress response [interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP)], nutritional status [hemoglobin (Hb), serum albumin (ALB)] and complications were compared between the 2 groups. Results: The postoperative nasogastric tube wearing time, tracheal tube wearing time, and postoperative hospital stay in the observation group were significantly shorter than those in the control group (all P<0.05). The levels of serum IL-6 and CRP in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group at 1, 3 and 5 d after the operation (all P<0.05). The levels of Hb and ALB in the observation group at 5 d after operation were significantly higher than those in the control group (both P<0.05). The total incidence of complications in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group (5.00 % vs 16.67 %, P<0.05). Conclusion: ERAS can effectively promote the rapid postoperative recovery of patients with laryngeal cancer surgery, reduce their stress response, and reduce the incidence of complications.