BACKGROUND Lung masses are often difficult to differentiate when their clinical symptoms and shapes or densities on computed tomography (CT) images are similar. However, with different pathological contents, they may appear differently on plain and enhanced CT. OBJECTIVE To determine the value of enhanced CT for the differential diagnosis of lung masses based on the differences in radiodensity with and without enhancement. METHODS Thirty-six patients with lung cancer, 36 with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and 10 with inflammatory lung pseudotumors diagnosed by CT and confirmed by pathology in our hospital were selected. The mean ± SD radiodensities of lung masses in the three groups of patients were calculated based on the results of plain and enhanced CT. RESULTS There were no significant differences in the radiodensities of the masses detected by plain CT among patients with inflammatory lung pseudotumors, TB and lung cancer (P > 0.05). However, there were significant differences (P < 0.01) between all the groups in terms of radiodensities of masses detected by enhanced CT. CONCLUSIONS The radiodensities of lung masses detected by enhanced CT could potentially be used to differentiate between lung cancer, pulmonary TB and inflammatory lung pseudotumors.