Objective To investigate the correlation between the walking function status and the quality of bowel preparation for colonoscopy in the elderly patients. Methods Enrolled in this study were 153 elderly inpatients undergoing colonoscopy in our hospital from January 2017 to March 2018. Assessment of the walking function was performed using the Barthel index before the procedure, and the patients were divided into normal walking group (n=82) and abnormal walking group (n=71) based on walking independence. The same bowel preparation was performed for both groups, and intestinal cleansing was recorded and cleaning efficiency was calculated. SPSS statistics 19.0 was used for analysis. Depending on data type, independent sample t test or Chi-square test was used for com-parison between groups. Correlation analysis was performed using Spearman rank correlation test. Results Significantly more patients in the normal walking group than in the abnormal walking group [87.8%(72/82) vs 63.4%(45/71), P<0.01] finished intestinal cleanser. In the patients who did not finish intestinal cleanser, the proportion of those intolerant frequent defecation in the normal walking group was significantly lower than that in the abnormal walking group [(8.54%(7/82) vs 30.99%(22/71), P=0.001]. However, the proportion of those who did not finish intestinal cleanser due to adverse reactions had no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups [3.66%(3/82) vs 5.63%(4/71), P=0.705]. Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that walking function was positively correlated with intestinal cleanliness (r=0.333, P<0.01). Conclusion Walking function status is correlated to the quality of bowel preparation in the elderly patients before colonoscopy. Difficulty in walking affects the quality of bowel preparation.