Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and influencing factors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the elderly. Methods A total of 782 retired elderly people aged ≥60 years in Haidian District of Beijing were included during May and September 2021. According to whether they had NAFLD or not, they were divided into NAFLD (n=200) and non-NAFLD groups (n=582). The baseline data were compared between the 2 groups of patients. SPSS statistics 25.0 was used for data analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to analyze the influencing factors of NAFLD. A multi-index combined prediction model was established, and its clinical predictive value for NAFLD was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results The prevalence of NAFLD was 25.58% (200/782). Compared with the non-NAFLD group, the NAFLD group had significantly higher body mass index (BMI), larger proportion of diabetes, and higher levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, triglyceride (TG), fasting blood glucose (FBG) and uric acid, and obviously younger age, lower prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level (all P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that NAFLD was positively correlated with female (OR=1.882,95%CI 1.142-3.100; P=0.013), BMI (OR=1.303,95%CI 1.219-1.393; P=0.000), FBG (OR=1.215,95%CI 1.076-1.372; P=0.002), TG (OR=1.738,95%CI 1.401-2.154; P=0.000), and negatively with age (OR=0.979,95%CI 0.964-0.995); P=0.009). ROC curve analysis showed that the combination of age, female, BMI, FBG and TG had a good predictive value for elderly NAFLD, with an area under the curve of 0.782 (95%CI 0.751-0.811). Conclusion The prevalence of NAFLD in the elderly is decreased with age. NAFLD in the elderly is affected by many factors. Female, obesity, diabetes and dyslipidemia, especially TG elevation, are the risk factors of NAFLD in the elderly.