This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of imatinib in the treatment of patients with adult Ph chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph(+)ALL). A total of 32 diagnosed adult Ph(+)ALL patients from July 2007 to February 2014 in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed and were divided into two groups: imatinib plus chemotherapy group and traditional chemotherapy group. The differences between two groups were analysed in disease-free survival time (DFS), overall survival time (OS) and toxicity. The G banding technigue was used to analyse the karyotype, and the flow cytometry was applyed to detect the immune markers on surface of cells. The results showed that all patients expressed B cell and hematopietic stem/progenitor cell immune markers, out of them 21 patients (65.6%) were with myeloid antigens, 27 patients with simple Ph (+) phenotype and 5 patients with additional chromosome abnormality. The DFS and OS of the imatinib group were statistically longer than those of the traditional chemotherapy group (14.3 ± 4.7 months vs 10.7 ± 3.8 months) (P < 0.05) and 22.6 ± 6.8 months vs 10.7 ± 3.8 months) (P < 0.05)). There was no significant difference in toxic effects between two groups (P > 0.05)). It is concluded that the all cases of adult Ph(+)ALL are with B cell phenotype and express hematopietic stem/progenitor cell antigen. They often accompanied by expression of myeloid antigens and additonal chromosome abnormality in genetics. The combination of imatinib with chemotherapy can prolong remission time and survival time for patients of non-hematopietic stem cell transplantation on the basis of no notably increasing the toxic effects.