Objective: To explore the safety and effectiveness of using enteral nutrition to replace the traditional methods in preoperative bowel preparation for patients with colorectal cancer. Methods: A total of 42 patients with colorectal cancer were randomly divided into the enteral nutrition group (EN group) and the control group (n = 21, respectively). The patients in the EN group were applied with Nutrison Fibre as a kind of liquid diet in preoperative bowel preparation. The bowel preparation of the patients in the control group was made by the traditional method of semiliquid-liquid-absolute diet with venoclysis. The times of intestinal lavage in the evening before operation, the satisfaction of colon cleaning, as well as adverse events such as abdominal distention, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue were compared. Parameters including body weight, hemoglobin (HB), lymphocyte count (LYM), plasma total protein (TP) , serum albumin (ALB) , and prealbumin (PA) were measured and compared before and after bowel preparation. Results: There was no significant difference in the two groups about the satisfaction of colon cleaning. The times of intestinal lavage in the EN group (5.67 ± 0.97) were significantly fewer than those in the control group (7.62 ± 1.66, P < 0. 05) and the frequencies of adverse events were significantly lower in EN group (P < 0. 05 ). LYM and PA after bowel preparation in EN group [(1 785.81 ± 401.48) × 10 6 /L and (170.76 ± 16.32) mg/L, respectively] were significantly higher than those in the control group [(1 529.29 ± 290.800 × 10 6 /L and (158.24 ± 18.56) mg/L, respectively, P < 0.05) and significantly higher than before [(1 548.95 ± 346.58) × 10 6 /L and (153.86 ± 17.67) mg/L, respectively, P < 0. 05]. No significant differences existed in terms of body weight, HB, TP, and ALB. Conclusion: Enteral nutrition can be appl ied for the preoperative bowel preparation in patients with colorectal cancer, and replace the traditional methods with better effectiveness and less adverse reactions.