Objective To explore the effects of spinal anesthesia (SA) and general anesthesia (GA) under the guidance of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) concept on minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) through a retrospective cohort study. Methods Perioperative data of 40 patients who underwent MIS-TLIF in The Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University from Jan. 2019 to Dec. 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, with 20 patients in the SA group and 20 in the GA group. The operative time, intraoperative adverse events, postoperative adverse events, postoperative hospital stay, numeric rating scale (NRS) pain score within 3 h in post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), opioid use, and the time from admission to the first mobilization of patients were collected, and the differences between the 2 groups were compared. Results There were no significant differences in the general data between the 2 groups (all P＞0.05). Compared with the GA group, patients receiving MIS-TLIF in the SA group had shorter total operating room time ([192.18±18.09］min vs[223.22±19.54］min, P＜0.001), shorter time to leave operating room ([5.44±1.95］min vs[9.94±1.28］min, P＜0.001), lower mean intraoperative heart rate ([67.39±7.44］min^-1 vs[72.94±8.61］min^-1, P=0.035), lower mean intraoperative arterial pressure ([78.38±9.88］mmHg vs[84.47±8.30］mmHg, P=0.041) (1 mmHg＝0.133 kPa), lower NRS pain score within 3 h in PACU ([3.81±1.87］points vs[5.43±2.24］points, P=0.017), lower dose of opioid analgesics (morphine sulfate) within 3 h in PACU ([5.36±1.71］mg vs[7.22±2.01］mg, P=0.003), later time of the first use of analgesics after operation ([58.11±20.19］min vs[45.58±17.16］min, P=0.041］, and earlier time from admission to the first mobilization [(430.77±122.38］min vs[843.86±95.44］min, P＜0.001］. There were no significant differences in total operation time, intraoperative blood loss, or postoperative hospital stay between the 2 groups (all P＞0.05). Conclusion AS can be used for MIS-TLIF operation under the guidance of ERAS concept, and it can effectively reduce the operating room time and postoperative pain, also with an earlier return to normal activities.