Objective To explore the effect of press-needle combined with auricular point sticking on postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), and gastrointestinal hormone level in patients after thoracolumbar posterior internal fixation. Methods A total of 90 cases with thoracolumbar posterior internal fixation were selected as research objects and randomly divided into press-needle group, auricular point group, press-needle + auricular point group, with 30 cases in each group. Thirty minutes after operation, patients in the press-needle group were treated with press-needle embedding at bilateral Zusanli and Neiguan; patients in the auricular point group were given single ear bean embedding, by using cowherb seed as the ear bean; patients in the press-needle + auricular point group were treated with press-needle embedding at bilateral Zusanli and Neiguan, while single ear bean embedding was used at the same time. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores of PONV at 0-4 h, 5-12 h and 13-24 h after operation, the levels of serum motilin (MTL), gastrin (GAS) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) before and after operation, and the occurrence of adverse reactions at 3 days after operation were compared among the three groups. Results The VAS scores of PONV in the press-needle + auricular point group were lower than those in the press-needle group and the auricular point group at 0-4 h, 5-12 h and 13-24 h after operation (all P<0.05). After operation, the serum MTL, GAS and VIP levels of patients in each group were significantly improved as compared with those before operation, and the improvement was more obvious in the press-needle + auricular point group than in the press-needle group and auricular point group, with statistically significant differences (all P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions at location of point selection among all groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The application of press-needle combined with auricular point sticking in patients with thoracolumbar posterior surgery can obviously alleviate the severity of postoperative PONV, improve the secretion level of MTL, GAS and VIP, and is beneficial to the recovery of patients after operation, and worthy of clinical promotion.