Objective: to explore the effect of dragon dance on improving the mental health level of college students. Methods: one hundred and twenty students were randomly divided into dragon dance group, football group and control group. SCL-90 symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) was used to test the mental health status of the three groups before and after the experiment. Results: there were significant differences in somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, interpersonal relationship, depression, anxiety and hostility in dragon dance group (P < 0.01), and there were significant differences in phobia, diet and sleep (P < 0.05). After the experiment, there were significant differences in somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, interpersonal relationship, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobia, diet and sleep between the dragon dance group and the control group (P < 0.01). There were significant differences in interpersonal relationship and depression between the dragon dance group and the football group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Dragon dance can effectively maintain and improve the mental health of college students, and the intervention effect of dragon dance on interpersonal relationship and depression of college students is better than that of football.