Objective To analyze the application and effect of interferon in vitro release enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (TB-IGRA) in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Methods 100 cases of tuberculosis patients admitted to our hospital were selected as observation objects in Group A, and 100 cases of other pulmonary patients except pulmonary tuberculosis were selected as observation objects in Group B. Members of both groups were given TB-IGRA, tuberculin skin allergy test (TST) and tuberculosis antibody (TB-AB) tests, and the diagnosis results of the three test methods were compared and analyzed. Results The positive detection rate of the three detection methods in group B was significantly lower than that in group A (P<0.05). At the same time, for group A patients with tuberculosis, the positive detection rate of TB-IGRA was significantly higher than that of TB-AB and TST (P<0.05),and the positive detection rates of TB-IGRA in patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis and pulmonary tuberculosis were 86.54% and 87.5% respectively, which were significantly higher than that of 67.31% and 54.17% of TST (P<0.05). Conclusion In the early diagnosis of tuberculosis patients, TB-IGRA test technology has a high diagnostic accuracy, which is worth popularizing.