Objective To investigate whether postoperative therapy can bring survival benefits to patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who have received neoadjuvant chemotherapy with TP regimen. Methods We retrospectively reviewed clinical data of 115 patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy with TP regimen and underwent esophagectomy in our hospital from January 2007 through December 2016. Patients were divided into two groups including a non-receiving treatment group (54 patients with 47 males and 7 females) and a receiving treatment group (61 patients with 52 males and 9 females). There were 31 patients with postoperative chemotherapy, 14 with postoperative radiotherapy, and 16 with postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the receiving treatment group. Results In the non-receiving treatment group, the 5-year median disease free survival (DFS) rate was 54.7%, and the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 55.3%. In the receiving treatment group, the median DFS was 46.0 months (95% CI 22.9–69.1), the 5-year DFS rate was 42.3%; and the median OS was 68.0 months (95% CI 33.0–103.0), the 5-year OS rate was 51.3%. Furthermore, there was no statistical difference between the two groups with regards to DFS (P=0.641) or OS (P=0.757) using Kaplan-Meier method. Besides, in each subgroup, the results of Cox proportional hazard model analysis showed postoperative treatment did not improve survival (P>0.05, respectively). Conclusion Postoperative treatment does not bring survival benefits to patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who have received neoadjuvant chemotherapy with TP regimen.