Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of interferon γ release assay (IGRA) combined with IL-6 detection in active pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods Seven hundred pulmonary tuberculosis patients admitted to our hospital were selected as the research objects from June 2018 to June 2019, including 587 active pulmonary tuberculosis patients and 113 non-active pulmonary tuberculosis patients, 100 healthy people who were admitted to hospital for physical examination in the same period were selected as the control. The results of IGRAs and the level of IL-6 were compared among the three groups. ROC curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of IGRAs and serum IL - 6 in active pulmonary tuberculosis. Results The difference of serum IL-6 content and IGRAs positive rate among the three groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05), and A group was higher than B group and healthy control group (P < 0.05), B group was higher than healthy control group (P < 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of IGRA in the diagnosis of active tuberculosis were 80.92% and 70.80%, respectively, according to ROC curve analysis; when the value of IL-6 was 20.24 ng/L, the sensitivity and specificity were 74.79% and 83.19%, respectively; the sensitivity and specificity of combined diagnosis were 84.33% and 85.84%, respectively. Conclusion IGRA and IL-6 have high diagnostic value for active pulmonary tuberculosis, and their combined sensitivity and specificity are higher, which can be used for the auxiliary diagnosis of active pulmonary tuberculosis in clinic.