Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare the clinical outcomes of surgical management by one-stage posterior debridement,transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) and instrumentation and combined posterior and anterior approaches for lumbar spinal tuberculosis,and determine the clinical effectiveness of the posterior only surgical treatment for lumbar spinal TB at the same time.Methods Thirty-seven patients who suffered lumbar tuberculosis were treated by two different surgical proce-dures in our center from May 2004 to June 2012.All the cases were divided into two groups: 19 cases in Group A underwent one-stage posterior debridement,TLIF and instrumentation,and 18 cases in Group B underwent pos-terior instrumentation,anterior debridement and bone graft in a single-stage procedure.The operation time,blood loss,lumbar kyphotic angle,recovery of neurological function and fusion time were,respectively,compared between Group A and Group B.Results The average follow-up period for Group A was 46.6 ± 16.7 months,and for Group B,47.5 ± 15.0 months.It was obvious that the average operative duration and blood loss of Group A was less than those of Group B.Lumbar tuberculosis was completely cured and the grafted bones were fused in 10 months in all patients.There was no persistence or recurrence of infection and no differences in the radiological results in both groups.The kyphosis was significantly corrected after surgical management.The average pretreatment ESR was 60.7 ± 22.5 mm/h,which became normal (9.0 ± 2.8 mm/h) within 3 months in all patients.Conclusions Surgical management by one-stage posterior debridement,TLIF and instrumentation for lumbar tuber-culosis is feasible and effective.This approach obtained better clinical outcomes than combined posterior and anterior surgeries.