Objective To characterize the serum metabolite composition of patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) by using nuclear magnetic resonance 1H (1HNMR) spectroscopy. Methods The 1HNMR spectra were obtained for the serum samples of 11 patients with low grade（Ⅰ-Ⅱ） ccRCC and 16 healthy humans, and the spectra data were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) to demonstrate the metabonomic changes. Results PCA and PLS-DA results showed that there were noticeable differences in metabonomics between the ccRCC patients and healthy controls. The levels of low-density lipoprotein, very low-density lipoprotein, isoleucine, alanine, N-acetylglycoprotein, acetoacetate, glutamine, taurine, 1-methylhistidine, and phenylalanine were significantly increased in the ccRCC patients (P<0.05, P<0.01); and lactate, acetate, pyruvate, choline, glycerol, and glucose were significantly decreased compared with those in the healthy controls (P<0.05, P<0.01). Conclusion Serum 1HNMR spectroscopy combined with PCA and PLS-DA can identify the difference in serum metabonomes between ccRCC patients and healthy controls, which may offer a novel way for diagnosis of ccRCC.