Early detection and comprehensive treatment are the ways to improve the efficacy of esophageal cancer. Esophagus is the tube connecting stomach and pharynx, which is about 25-30 cm long. Carcinoma of esophagus is a malignant tumor of esophageal squamous epithelium, and progressive dysphagia is its most typical clinical symptom. It is one of the common malignant tumors in human beings, and its occurrence is often related to diet, smoking, alcoholism, chronic inflammation of esophagus and genetic factors; the incidence increases with age above 30 years old, and the peak incidence is from 50 to 69 years old; there are more men than women. China is the country with high incidence of esophageal cancer and also the country with the highest mortality rate of this disease. About 10% of patients have no obvious symptoms in the early stage of esophageal cancer, 90% have symptoms, which are mainly manifested as a slight feeling of infarction when swallowing hard food, pain in the esophagus when swallowing, pain and discomfort in the sternum after swallowing or foreign body feeling in the esophagus after swallowing, etc. Typical symptoms in the middle stage are: progressive dysphagia, vomiting, chest and back pain and weight loss, etc.; in the late stage, the symptoms are mainly the invasion of trachea by esophageal cancer, which leads to respiratory system symptoms, involvement of visceral nerves, etc. Symptoms in the late stage include respiratory system symptoms due to invasion of trachea, neurological system symptoms due to involvement of internal nerves, metastasis and cachexia, etc. Therefore, we must pay attention to the early signs of esophageal cancer and vigorously carry out popular science propaganda to improve the public’s awareness of this disease, which is the medical term “three early signs”: early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment. If you find the following symptoms, you should be alerted: 1) slight or occasional choking sensation under the food, this symptom is the most common; 2) pain behind the sternum or esophagus when eating, a burning sensation, pins and needles, pulling or rubbing sensation; 3) foreign body sensation in the esophagus unrelated to eating; 4) dryness in the pharynx and tightness in the neck; 5) slow movement of food when eating and food stagnation in a part of the esophagus 6), the feeling of stuffiness and distension behind the sternum. The above mentioned discomfort can exist alone or several kinds of coexist; they can persist or occur intermittently. The examination items include chest X-ray, fiberoptic gastroscopy, upper gastrointestinal angiography (GI), chest CT, abdominal ultrasound and routine blood test, etc. At present, surgical treatment is the first choice for esophageal cancer treatment, followed by anti-cancer chemical treatment (chemotherapy), radiotherapy, endoscopic treatment, biological treatment and Chinese medicine treatment. The final therapeutic effect depends on the reasonable combination of the above therapies. Clinical practice shows that all therapies have certain advantages and disadvantages, and the use of single therapy cannot achieve satisfactory results. Therefore, reasonable and coordinated synthesis is an important way to improve the therapeutic effect of esophageal cancer, which has received more and more clinical attention in recent years. Surgery (including radical resection, palliative resection and palliative surgery) is still the most effective treatment for esophageal cancer and should be chosen if there is no contraindication to surgery. For some patients with high-grade esophageal cancer or advanced multiple metastases who cannot be operated, chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy can be used for symptom relief or preoperative and postoperative adjuvant treatment. In recent years, the practice of clinical evidence-based medicine has confirmed that the single treatment method of esophageal cancer has certain limitations. Patients with esophageal cancer have fewer postoperative complications and higher survival rates, and chemoradiotherapy is not significantly associated with more severe surgical complications. With the advancement of technology and the emergence of some new chemotherapeutic drugs and radiotherapy adjuvant drugs, the adverse effects of radiotherapy are minimal and most patients can fully tolerate it. Doctors will determine different radiotherapy regimens according to different patients’ conditions. Other treatment options include immunotherapy or adjuvant herbal medicine, and the placement of esophageal stents in some inoperable patients. In general, combining the strengths of various treatment methods for comprehensive treatment of esophageal cancer is the principle of clinical treatment of esophageal cancer, and the selection of treatment plan should be considered in conjunction with the patient’s physical condition.