The Tianjin cancer registry was established in 1978, and registration of cases is done by the active method. The registry contributed data on 51 cancer sites or types registered during 1991-1999 for this survival study. Follow-up has been a mixture of both active and passive methods, with median follow-up ranging from 5-77 months. The proportion with histologically verified diagnosis for various cancers ranged from 21-95% and 97-100% of total registered cases were included for survival analysis. The top-ranking cancers by 5-year age-standardized relative survival (%) were renal pelvis (101%), lip (99%), corpus uteri (91%), penis and nonmelanoma skin (90%) and thyroid (89%). The corresponding survival for common cancers were lung (31%), stomach (41%), Liver (25%) and breast (82%). The 5-year relative survival by age group reveals an inverse relationship for a few cancers and fluctuated for most cancers. Period survival closely predicted the survival experience of cancer cases diagnosed in that period, with the 5-year relative survival in 1991-1995 by period approach being more or less similar to survival by cohort approach in 1996-1999 for most cancers.