Objective To evaluate the thyroid function associated with the ultrasound parameters among thyroid malignancy patients and to seek for a better measure of preoperative diagnosis. Methods Patients undergoing thyroid operation from January 2015 to December 2015 at a single hospital were enrolled for the research. The preoperative thyroid function, color Doppler ultrasound, combined with gender, age and final pathological results were used to evaluate the normal range of thyroid function indicators for the prediction of thyroid cancer. Results Totally 908 patients were included. Among them, 244 were malignant and 664 benign. There was no significant difference in sex composition and thyroxine (T4) (P > 0.05); there were significant differences in age, TSH level, TPOAb and TGAb (P < 0.05); with the increase of TSH, T3 decreased and the malignant rate increased (P < 0.05); patients with serum TSH in the two higher quartile ranges were at higher risk of malignancy than those in the lowest quartile range [Ol^R = 2.410 (95% CI: 1.552, 3.743)], [Ol^R = 2.508 (95% CI: 1.613, 3.899)]. The risk of thyroid cancer was positively correlated with serum TSH. However, T3 is at a higher risk of malignancy in the second and fourth quartiles of two relatively lower concentrations [Ol^R = 2.410 (95% CI: 1.552, 3.743)], [Ol^R = 2.508 (95% CI: 1.613, 3.899)]. The critical values TSH = 1.4861 μIU/ml, T3 = 4.94 pmol/L were measured. In the diagnosis experiment, T3 combined with TSH, TPOAb and TGAb respectively, TSH combined with TPOAb and TGAb respectively have high specificity. Conclusions The parameters of thyroid function might be helpful to predictive of thyroid papillary cancinoma as a dependent factor.