This study was aimed to analyze the survival status of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and to investigate the influence of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT), different pathological types, International Prognosis Idex (IPI) on prognosis. One hundred and sixteen cases of DLBCL were analyzed retrospectively. The treatment efficacy of R-CHOP alone and R-CHOP combined with auto-HSCT as well as the influence of different immunopathologic types, IPI, hypersensitive C-reactive protein (HSCRP), α-hydroxybutyric acid deaminase (HBDH) on the prognosis of DLBCL patients including overall survival (OS) rate, progression-free survival (PFS) rate were analyzed. The results indicated that the 5-year OS for all patients was 72.4%. in which 30 patients with Ann Arbor staging III-IV received auto-HSCT plus R-CHOP. The prognosis of the 30 patients was better than that of 86 cases received R-CHOP chemotherapy alone (5-year OS was 82.5% vs 69.0%, 5-year PFS was 77.1% vs 68.3%) (P < 0.05). The prognosis of patients in germinal center B-cell-like group (GCB group) was better than that of patients in activated B-cell-like group (ABC group). Some clinical features were associated with poor prognosis including OS and PFS, such as age, B symptoms, IPI scores, the level of LDH, HSCRP and HBDH (P < 0.05) in which the level of LDH, age ≥ 60 years and B symptoms were independent prognostic factors in DLBCL patients (P < 0.05). It is concluded that auto-HSCT combined with R-CHOP can improve the long-term survival of DLBCL patients. The prognosis of patients in GCB group is better than that of patients in the ABC group. The clinical features such as age, B symptoms, IPI scores and LDH are associated with prognosis.