Objective Anemia shows an important impact on the prognosis of heart failure patients. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation of plasma fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) and galectin-3 (Gal-3) levels with anemia in patients with chronic heart failure. Methods The clinical data of 95 patients with acute attack of chronic heart failure admitted to our department from May 2018 to March 2019 were collected and analyzed retrospectively. According to being accompanied with anemia or not, these patients were divided into anemia group (n=47) and non-anemia group (n=48). The clinical data were compared between the 2 groups. The statistical analysis was carried out by SPSS statistics 25.0. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the effects of related factors on anemia. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was employed to predict the values of the related factors for anemia in heart failure patients. Results There were significant differences in hemoglobin (Hb), FGF-23, Gal-3, urea nitrogen, cystatin C and creatinine between the 2 groups (P<0.05). The Hb level was negatively correlated with FGF-23 (r=-0.470), Gal-3 (r=-0.379), urea nitrogen (r=-0.330), cystatin C (r=-0.319) and creatinine (r=-0.282, all P<0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that FGF-23 (OR=1.02,5%CI 1.011-1.030), Gal-3(OR=1.05,5%CI 1.004-1.102) and urea nitrogen (OR=1.23,5%CI 1.030-1.481) were independent risk factors for anemia in patients with heart failure (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis indicated that FGF-23 had a good predictive value for anemia, and the area under the curve was 0.826(95%CI 0.742-0.909). Conclusion Plasma FGF-23 and Gal-3 levels are negatively correlated with Hb in patients with chronic heart failure. The elevations of plasma FGF-23, Gal-3 and urea nitrogen levels are risk factors for anemia in these patients.