The treatment plan of esophageal cancer should be decided according to the pathological pattern, early and late stage of the disease, lesion location, general condition of the patient and the presence or absence of lymph node metastasis. Some data show that the 5-year survival rate of early esophageal cancer is over 80% with radiotherapy alone. The survival rate of radiation therapy for upper and middle thoracic esophageal cancer is not lower than that of surgery, while that for lower thoracic cancer is slightly lower than that of surgery. Therefore, for cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer, radiotherapy should be used first. For esophageal cancer of the lower thoracic segment, surgery should be preferred, while for esophageal cancer of the middle thoracic segment, combined radiotherapy and surgery should be chosen. The efficacy of drug therapy alone for esophageal cancer is still poor and can only be used as palliative treatment. Research on radiosensitizers and physical sensitization methods have improved the sensitivity of radiation and certain chemotherapeutic drugs to esophageal cancer, which can also be used as a means of comprehensive treatment.