Objective To determine the effect of comprehensive rehabilitation treatment on emotion, nutritional status, and quality of life in elderly patients with head and neck cancer after radiotherapy. Methods A total of 62 elderly patients with head and neck cancer completing radiotherapy in our hospital from June 2015 to June 2017 were enrolled in this study. They were randomly divided into rehabilitation group (n=31) and control group (n=31). The patients from the both groups were given routine healthy counseling and follow-up, while those of the former group were additionally provided with comprehensive rehabilitation treatment, including psychological counseling, physical exercise, swallowing training and nutrition intervention. They were assessed with geriatric depression scale (GDS), mini-nutritional assessment short-form (MNA-SF), quality of life questionnaire-core 30 (QLQ-C 30) immediately after radiotherapy and 6 months after radiotherapy. SPSS statistics 19.0 was used for data analysis. The measurement data were expressed as mean±standard deviation, and Student′s t test was employed for the comparison between groups. Results There were no statistical differences in scores of GDS, MNA-SF and QLQ-C 30 immediately after radiotherapy. At 6 months after radiotherapy, the scores of GDS[(7.35±1.75) vs (10.20±1.94)], MNA-SF[(10.85±3.23) vs (9.56±4.21)] and QLQ-C 30[(57.84±9.57) vs (49.73±10.01)] in the rehabilitation group were all significantly better than those in control group (P＜0.05). The score of MNA-SF in the control group was significantly better than that immediately after radiotherapy[(9.56±4.21) vs (8.24±4.05), P＜0.05]. Conclusion Comprehensive rehabilitation treatment can more significantly improve the depressive status, nutritional status and quality of life in the elderly patients with head and neck cancer after radiotherapy.