Objective To investigate the prevalence and risk factors of viral infection in the hospitalized patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Methods  A cross-sectional study was carried out which included the inpatients with AECOPD from May 2012 to May 2015. The basic information, clinical data and duration of hospital stay of every patient were collected, and the viral epidemiology was analyzed by means of PCR. A logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the risk factors. Results A total of 127 AECOPD patients were included in this study. Among the 127 patients 52 patients (40.94%) got positive viral PCR results, of which 36 patients (28.34%) were one-virus positive and the others (12.60%) were two-virus positive. The AECOPD patients with viral infections had a longer hospital stay than those without viral infection [(11.5 ± 0.96) d vs (8.99 ± 0.42) d, P = 0.001]. Multivariate regression analysis showed that smoking (P = 0.029), diabetes (P = 0.001), respiratory failure (P = 0.049), and frequent exacerbation in the last year (P= 0.028) were the risk factors. Conclusions High prevalence of respiratory viral infection has been found in hospitalized patients with AECOPD. The duration of hospital stay is longer in virus-positive patients. Viral infection is associated with smoking, diabetes, respiratory failure, and exacerbations in the past year. Early identification and prevention of these risk factors may help to reduce the incidence of AECOPD.