Objective To investigate the impact of blood glucose level on the recurrence of liver cancer after laparoscopic surgery. Methods The clinical data of 98 patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma from January 2012 to January 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were treated by laparoscopic radical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients were divided into elevated blood glucose group (n = 23) and control group (n = 75) according to whether the fasting blood glucose was ≥6.1 mmol/L. The recurrence of liver cancer in 1 year and 2 years after operation was compared. The factors influencing the recurrence of liver cancer were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results The recurrence rates were 47.82% and 21.33% respectively in the patients with elevated blood glucose and the control group. The recurrence rates were 73.91% and 36.00% respectively in the 2-year postoperative patients with blood glucose and 1 year and 2 years. The recurrence rate was higher than that of the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Logistic multivariate analysis showed that fasting blood glucose was high, Child-Pugh grade B, intraoperative blood transfusion, lymphatic invasion, high clinical pathology stage, postoperative alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) high, no postoperative adjuvant therapy (P < 0.05). Conclusion The recurrence rate of patients with elevated liver cancer after laparoscopic surgery is high,and fasting blood glucose is high, Child-Pugh grade is B grade, blood transfusion is high, there is lymphatic invasion, high clinical pathology stage after AFP high, no postoperative adjuvant therapy for its postoperative recurrence of risk factors, should strengthen the monitoring of high-risk patients, reduce postoperative recurrence rate.