Objective To investigate the effect of electric acupuncture combined with Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) treatment of poststroke depression with insomnia and analyze the therapeutic mechanism of this method. Methods 83 patients with PSD were randomly divided into the group of electric acupuncture combined with rTMS (n=32), rTMS group (n=32) and drug treatment group (n=32). The patients in the group of electric acupuncture combined with rTMS were given with the electric acupuncture treatment for 2 weeks on the basis of rTMS treatment, and also were regularly and continuously administrated with antidepressant drug (escitalopram citalopram). The rTMS group were only given with rTMS for 2 weeks, and the patients of the drug treatment group were administrated with the same antidepressant. At the baseline and 2th week, the 17-item Hamilton depression scale (17-HAMD), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and polysomnography (PSG) were evaluated. Results The sleep parameters, PSQI scores and HAMD scores among three groups had no significant difference at baseline. After 2 weeks, the overall difference of HAMD score reduction between different treatment groups was statistically significant (P<0.001). The HAMD score reduction in the drug treatment group was less than that in the rTMS group and the electric acupuncture combined rTMS group (P<0.05), and the HAMD score reduction in the electric acupuncture combined rTMS group was greater than that in the drug group and the rTMS group (P<0.05). The overall difference of PSQI score reduction between groups was significant (P<0.05). The PSQI score reduction value of electric acupuncture combined with rTMS group was greater than that of the drug group and the rTMS group (P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in the PSQI score reduction value between the drug group and the rTMS group (P<0.05). The overall difference of total sleep duration (F=16.735,P<0.001) and sleep efficiency(F=87.548,P<0.001) evalted by PSG among groups was significant. The changes of both the total sleep duration and sleep efficiency of electric acupuncture combined with rTMS group was greater than that of the drug group and the rTMS group (P<0.001), while there was no significant difference neither in the changes of total sleep duration nor sleep efficiency between the drug group and the rTMS group before and after treatment among the groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Electroacupuncture combined with rTMS treatment may improve the efficacy of depression, sleep quality, the total sleep duration and sleep efficiency of PSD, and the effect is better than that of the drug treatment group and the rTMS group, which reflects the synergic effect of electroacupuncture combined with rTMS on PSD treatment.