Objective To investigate the situation and prospect of local recurrence of rectal cancer by using CT and MRI. Method Relevant references about the imaging diagnosis of local recurrence of rectal cancer， which were published domestic and abroad in recent years， were collected and reviewed. Results In the diagnosis of local recurrence of rectal cancer， the sensitivity of CT was higher than that of MRI， while the specificity and accuracy were not. Perfusion CT， dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI， and diffusion weighted imaging were valuable in diagnosing local recurrence of rectal cancer， as new diagnostic techniques. Conclusion Both CT and MRI are important and valuable methods in diagnosing for local recurrence of rectal cancer.