Objective To explore the clinical effect of radiotherapy only and concurrent chemoradiotherapy in elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods Ninety cases of elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in our hospital from January 2018 to December 2020 were selected as research objects.According to different treatment methods, they were divided into control group and observation group, 45 cases in each group.They were treated with radiotherapy and concurrent chemoradiotherapy respectively.The treatment effect and safety of the two groups were compared. Results The total effective rate of the observation group was 75.56%, which was close to the control group (60.00%, P>0.05). The disease control rate of the observation group was 97.78%, which was higher than control group (84.44%, P<0.05). The incidence of radiation pneumonia and bone marrow suppression of the observation group were 24.44% and 77.78%, which were higher than that of the control group (6.67%, 48.89%). The proportion of radiation pneumonia, bone marrow suppression, radiation esophagitis grade 2 of the observation group were 17.78%, 35.78% and 57.78% respectively, higher than that of the control group (2.22%, 8.89%, 24.44% respectively, P<0.05). Conclusion Compared with radiotherapy only, concurrent chemoradiotherapy improved the ability of disease control in elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, but it increased the adverse reactions and aggravated the severity of adverse reactions.Therefore, it is necessary to make a careful choice in clinical treatment.