BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to report the clinical diagnosis and treatment of a case of pelvic actinomycosis in our hospital and provide a review of recent literature. CASE REPORT The patient was a 54-year-old woman who was admitted to our hospital due to "bilateral lower abdominal tenderness accompanied with anorexia and vomiting for 3 months". After admission, a variety of imaging examinations found pelvic space-occupying lesions, which were considered as malignant. She underwent surgery and pelvic actinomycosis was diagnosed by postoperative pathology. Postoperatively, she was treated with a high-dose sufficient course of penicillin (20 million U, iv gtt) for 14 days and she is currently under close follow-up for 1 year, with no recurrent symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Pelvic actinomycosis is rare and often forms mass invasion into the tissue structure around the pelvic cavity, which is easily misdiagnosed as ovarian malignant tumor. The criterion standard for diagnosing an infection is culture, with histopathology aiding the diagnosis.