Objective To investigate the CA19-9, enhanced MRI and PET-CT value in the diagnosis and staging of pancreatic cancer. Methods A retrospective analysis of 92 patients with pancreatic placeholder admitted in our hospital was carried out. Preoperative CA19-9 inspection, abdominal enhanced MRI scans and whole body PET-CT scan were performed. The clinical value of CA19-9, enhanced MRI and PET-CT in the diagnosis and staging of pancreatic cancer were evaluated. Results Among 92 patients, 82 cases were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and 10 cases with non-pancreatic cancer. The sensitivity of CA19-9 inspection, abdominal enhanced MRI and whole body PET-CT for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer were 78.0%, 86.6% and 92.7 % respectively. PET-CT had a higher sensitivity and better than CA19-9 (P<0.01). PET-CT was superior to enhanced MRI but no statistically significant (P = 0.200). The sensitivity of enhanced MRI and PET-CT in the judgment of peripancreatic lymph node metastasis were 46.9% and 81.6% (P<0.001). The sensitivity of enhanced MRI and PET-CT in diagnosis of liver metastases were 54.5 % and 72.7 % without statistically significant (P = 0.66). PET-CT in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer had a higher sensitivity than CA19-9 and enhanced MRI. Conclusion PET-CT could help to find the lymph nodes and distant organs metastasis, to obtain a more accurate preoperative staging, thus avoiding diagnostic laparotomy exploratory surgery. There is still false negative and false positive result for PET-CT, the comprehensive analysis of all inspection method results should be carried out to improve clinical diagnosis accuracy.