〔Abstract〕 Objective To explore the effect of glucocorticoid combined with standard quadruple anti-tuberculosis therapy on the time of pleural fluid absorption in patients with tuberculous pleurisy. Methods Ninety-eight patients with tuberculous pleurisy admitted to Nanyang Central Hospital from March 2019 to February 2021 were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group, with 49 cases in each group. The control group was treated with standard quadruple anti-tuberculosis therapy, and the observation group was treated with glucocorticoid combined with standard quadruple anti-tuberculosis therapy. The clinical efficacy, recovery of clinical symptoms, inflammatory factors of pleural effusion and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Results The total effective rate of the observation group was 97.96 %, which was higher than that of the control group (83.67 %), and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The time of hospitalization, relief of systemic poisoning symptoms and absorption of pleural effusion in the observation group were shorter than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). After treatment, the levels of plearal effusion interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in the observation group were lower than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion In the treatment of tuberculous pleurisy patients, glucocorticoid combined with standard quadruple anti-tuberculosis therapy can alleviate the inflammatory symptoms of patients, accelerate the absorption rate of pleural fluid, improve the clinical symptoms of patients, and shorten the treatment time.