Spinal surgery, which is the main method to treat spinal disease, has an increasing incidence of postoperative complications. How to prevent postoperative complications after spinal surgery has attracted great attention from clinicians. Studies have demonstrated that preoperative malnutrition is associated with a variety of postoperative complications (such as wound infection, hemorrhage, thrombosis and pneumonia), and the preoperative individual nutritional status of patients is an independent risk factor for postoperative complications after spinal surgery. This paper reviews the relationship between preoperative nutritional status and postoperative complications of spinal surgery.