BACKGROUND Open nephroureterectomy (ONU) and bladder cuff resection (ONU-BCR) has been the gold standard of surgical treatment for upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma (UUT-TCC). The aim of this study is to introduce a modified total retroperitoneal laparoscopic nephroureterectomy (LNU) with bladder-cuff resection (LNU-BCR) method for treating UUT-TCC and compare its clinical efficacy with ONU-BCR. METHODS Sixty-five patients with UUT-TCC, who underwent ONU-BCR (n = 36) or LNU-BCR (n = 29) between January 2008 and June 2012, were analyzed in this retrospective study. Perioperative data as well as incidence of disease recurrence at the primary site or distant metastasis was compared in patients with at least 6 months follow-up. RESULTS As compared with patients with ONU-BCR, the patients with LNU-BCR had significantly shorter operative time, lower estimated blood loss, shorter time to oral intake, lower analgesic dose, shorter duration of analgesic use, shorter duration of incision drainage tube, shorter time to ambulation out of bed and reduced postoperative hospital stay (all, p < .05). No significant difference in postoperative complications or incidence of bladder carcinoma recurrence and distant metastasis during the follow-up period was observed. CONCLUSIONS The modified LNU-BCR represents an effective and safe alternative technique to ONU-BCR with the advantages of reduced invasiveness, bleeding and hospitalization.