Objective To investigate the effect of corneal limbal stem cell transplantation on visual quality, corneal refractive power and tear film function in patients with pterygium. Methods A total of 110 patients with pterygium treated in our hospital from February 2016 to January 2017 were randomly divided into control group and observation group,55 cases in each group. The control group was treated with pterygium excision. The observation group was given limbal stem cell transplantation on the basis of the control group. Visual acuity, corneal refractive power, tear film function and postoperative scleral complication were evaluated in both groups. Results Compared with those before treatment, the visual acuity, corneal horizontal curvature and corneal vertical curvature were significantly increased in both groups after treatment, and corneal astigmatism decreased significantly compared with those before treatment. The visual acuity, corneal horizontal curvature and cornea vertical curvature was significantly greater than that of the control group, and the corneal astigmatism was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). Compared with those before treatment, the levels of schimer Ⅰ test(SIT) and break-up time(BUT) significantly increased in both groups after treatment, and the scores in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group after treatment (P<0.05). At the 6th month after operation, the eye irritation symptoms, scleral softening and scleral necrosis incidence in observation group were significantly lower than the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion The limbal stem cell transplantation combined with pterygium excision can effectively improve the patient’s visual acuity, increase the corneal refractive power and reduce the degree of astigmatism, and can effectively improve the tear film function, reduce the incidence of scleral complications, reliable, and worthy of further clinical application.