Objective To study the clinical effect of Axitinib-assisted partial nephrectomy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Methods A total of 120 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who underwent partial nephrectomy in Lishui People’s Hospital and the First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University from January 2016 to January 2018 were selected and divided into a control group (Sunitinib) and an observation group (Axitinib) according to the differences of adjuvant drugs. Clinical efficacy, related immunological indicators, quality of life, progression-free survival time and overall survival time were compared between the two groups. Results The objective response rate and the disease control rate in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The CD4+ difference, CD8+ difference and CD3+ difference before and after treatment in the observation group were significantly bigger than those in the control group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in HLA-DR+ difference before and after treatment between the control group and the observation group (P > 0.05). Comparison of the Karnofsky (KPS) score between the control group and the observation group before treatment, and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after treatment revealed that the KPS scores at different time points were different (P < 0.05), the KPS score of the observation group was higher than that of the control group and the quality of life was better in the observation group, the change trends of the KPS scores of the two groups were different (P < 0.05). The progression-free survival time and the overall survival time of the observation group were longer than those of the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusions Axitinib-assisted partial nephrectomy has obvious clinical effect for metastatic renal cell carcinoma.