Abstract: Objective To investigate and analyze clinical characteristics of patients with acute viral hepatitis. Methods Data of 54 cases with acute viral hepatitis in our department from January 2012 to March 2013 were analyzed by descriptive method. Results Among 54 cases with acute viral hepatitis, 31 cases were male and 23 cases were female, with the ratio of male/female as 1.35︰1, and the mean age was (43.85 ± 15.95) years old. The results showed that 29 (53.70%) cases were acute hepatitis B (AHB), 18 (33.33%) cases with acute hepatitis E (AHE), 6 (11.11%) cases with undifferentiated type hepatitis and 1 (1.85%) cases with AHE complicated with cirrhosis based on hepatitis B. There were 3 pregnant women in AHB group. The average age of onset of AHB [(37.76 ± 13.67) years old] was lower than that of AHE [(54.11 ± 13.97) years old], and the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.01). The level of albumin (ALB) of AHB [(37.24 ± 3.68) g/L] was higher than that of AHE [(33.73 ± 4.61) g/L]. The difference of ALB between the two groups was significant (P ＜ 0.01). There were no significant difference in sex ratio and peak values of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBil), γ-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT), alkaline phosphatase (AKP), total bile acid (TBA) and cholinesterase (CHE) between AHB and AHE group (all P ＞ 0.05). The difference of course of hospital stay between the two groups were not significant (P ＞ 0.05). Conclusions AHB and AHE were the common types of AVH. The prognosis of AVH is favorable. We should pay more attention to pregnancy women who were complicated with AHB. AHB was more common in youngers and middle-aged, while AHE more common in the elders. And serum levels of ALB was higher for patients with AHB than AHE.