Surgery brings many psychological and physiological stress stimuli to patients. As an auxiliary treatment method, music therapy can alleviate the tension and anxiety in the perioperative period, reduce the dosage of analgesics, and improve the quality of postoperative rehabilitation. The efficacy and healing properties of music therapy have been widely recognized and are worthy of promotion and application. This paper reviews the research progress in music therapy during the perioperative period, the history of music therapy, possible principles and theories, and the effects of music therapy on perioperative anesthesia under different time and anesthesia methods. At present, with the development of enhanced recovery‑after surgery (ERAS), the application of multi‑mode intervention has become a trend in improving the quality of rehabilitation. Music therapy will become an important auxiliary measure to improve the quality of perioperative period with respect to its many advantages such as low cost, non‑invasion, and convenient implementation.