Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics, surgical techniques, and treatment outcomes in patients with central nervous system hemangioblastoma (CNS HB).Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis on the clinical data, imaging characteristics, surgical effect, and follow-up data for 17 cases of CNS HB from June 2009 to June 2014.Results The major clinical symptoms of CNS HB included headache, ataxia, and limb dysfunction. All the 17 patients had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Computed tomography was performed in 6 patients. Three patients had digital subtraction angiography. Magnetic resonance angiography was performed in 1 patient. Totally 10 cases were identified as solitary cystic-nodule type. There were 7 cases with parenchymal lesions and 6 cases with multiple lesions. Under the microscope, a total of 13 cases had the tumor completely removed at stage I and 1 case had the tumor completely removed at stage II; the large lesions in the other 3 cases were removed and the small lesions were followed up. No intraoperative death was observed. After 3 months to 5 years of follow-up treatment, there were 15 cases of neurological function improvement and 2 cases of no obvious changes. No tumor recurrence was observed in all completely removed cases. The small lesions in the 3 cases were not found to become larger.Conclusions MRI has great diagnostic value for CNS HB. In addition, microsurgical treatment for CNS HB is safe and effective with few postoperative complications.