Objective To investigate the predictive value of preoperative serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in predicting glioma progression and patients’ prognosis. Methods A total of 92 patients admitted in our institution for glioma resection from January 2014 to January 2017 was included in this retrospectively study. The clinical data, laboratory indexes and imaging features were collected for all patients. The patients were grouped based on 1 year of the progress free survival (PFS). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were separately used to evaluate the independent factor related with progress free survival. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to determine the optimal cutoff value of LDH. The Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis were used to determine the independent prognostic factors with patients’ survival at 3 years follow-up. Results There were 49 males and 43 females with an average age of 41.98±18.99 years. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that preoperative serum LDH（OR=0.96; 95% CI: 0.93-0.98; P=0.001）was correlated with patients’ progress free survival. The ROC showed that the optimal cutoff value, sensitivity, specificity and under the curve of LDH in predicting PFS were 185.5 U/L, 0.75, 0.625 and 0.768. The Kaplan-Meier curve showed that the mortality at 3 years follow-up of abnormal elevated LDH group was significantly higher than that of normal LDH group. The multivariate Cox analysis showed that whether LDH is in normal level（HR=0.29; 95% CI: 0.15-0.57; P<0.001）was independent factor related with patients’ survival at 3 years follow-up. Conclusion Preoperative serum lactate dehydrogenase level is indicated as a reliable factor for predicting glioma patients’ outcome. However, multi-center and large-scale study is needed to validate the results.