BACKGROUND Pretreatment albumin/alkaline phosphatase ratio (AAPR) has been discussed about its prognostic value in several malignancies, whereas its role in cervical cancer remains unclear. In this study, we attempt to explore the prognostic significance of the AAPR in stage IB-IIA cervical cancer patients who underwent a radical hysterectomy. METHODS A total of 230 cervical cancer patients were enrolled in this retrospective study. The threshold value of AAPR was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and multivariate analysis were performed to identify independent prognostic predictors of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS The optimal cut-off value of the preoperative AAPR was 0.68. Patients with AAPR<0.68 showed obviously inferior OS and DFS than those with AAPR>0.68 according to Kaplan-Meier curves (DFS: P = 0.011; OS: P = 0.017). In multivariate analysis, the preoperative AAPR showed to be an independent predictive factor for disease-free survival (DFS: P = 0.015) and overall survival (OS: P = 0.019). Moreover, subgroup analysis revealed that the lower AAPR was correlated with worse prognosis in patients with histologic grade I-II; but in those with histologic grade III, there was no significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Preoperative AAPR was a potentially valuable prognostic index in stage IB-IIA cervical cancer patients. Further prospective studies are required to validate its prognostic value.