Objective To observe the clinical effect of Jin's three-needle therapy on post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI). Methods A total of 60 patients with cognitive dysfunction after stroke in the department of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), department of neurology and department of psychiatry in Nansha Hospital of Guangzhou First People's Hospital were randomly divided into treatment group 1, treatment group 2 and control group, 20 cases in each group.The control group was given donepezil hydrochloride orally, the treatment group 1 was given Jin's three-needle therapy, the treatment group 2 was given donepezil oral therapy and Jin's three-needle therapy.All groups were assessed with mini-mental state examination (MMSE) before and 12 weeks after treatment. Results In MMSE, the total effective rate of treatment group 1 was similar to that of control group, and the effective rate of treatment group 2 was higher than that of control group and treatment group 1.In the evaluation of TCM symptom curative effect, the cure rate of the group 2 was higher than that of the control group and the group 1.The effective rate of group 2 was significantly higher than that of group 1 (P< 0.05). After 12 weeks of treatment, MMSE scores in control group, group 1 and group 2 were significantly higher than those before treatment (P< 0.05). The score of diagnosis and curative effect of stroke in three groups decreased after treatment, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There were significant differences between control group, group 1 and group 2 (P< 0.05). Conclusion Jin's three-needle therapy combined with donepezil is effective in the treatment of PSCI.Acupuncture combined with medicine is more beneficial to the recovery of PSCI.