Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of targeted surveillance on the control of nosocomial infection in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods The nosocomial infection rates were retrospectively analyzed after continuous improvement of targeted surveillance in NICU from January 2013 to June 2015. Results During the research period, 59 cases has nosocomial infection in 1011 case who were selected in accordance with inclusion criteria, nosocomial infection rate is 5.8% and daily infection rate is 3.5%. On semiannual basis, the daily infection rates decreased from 8% in the first half of 2013 to 2.2% in the first half of 2015. The ventilator associated pneumonia cases/1000 ventilator days decreased from 12.8‰ to 0‰ from the first half of 2013 to the first half of 2015. The central ventral indwelling catheter related bloodstream infection cases/1000 central ventral indwelling catheter days decreased from 4.5‰ to 0‰ from the first half of 20133 to the first half of 2015. The differences were statistically significant (P all < 0.05). Conclusion Through continuous targeted surveillance, the dynamic changes of nosocomial infection and its risk factors can be monitored, so that the effective intervention can be carried out to decrease the nosocomial infection rate in NICU.