To evaluate the efficacy and safety of acitretin capsules and compound glycyrrhizin in the treatment of psoriasis. Methods A total of 82 patients with psoriasis admitted to Rongcheng County People's Hospital from January 2022 to January 2023 were randomly divided into control group and study group, with 41 patients in each group. The control group was treated with acitretin capsules, and the study group was treated with acitretin capsules combined with compound glycyrrhizin. The clinical efficacy, quality of life and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Results The total effective rate of treatment in the observation group was 97.56%, which was higher than 78.05% in the control group (P <0.05). The scores of quality of life in the two groups after treatment were higher than those before treatment, and those in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P <0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in the observation group was 7.32 %, which was lower than 26.83 % in the control group (P <0.05). Conclusion Acitretin capsules combined with compound glycyrrhizin in treatment of psoriasis can improve the therapeutic effect, improve the quality of life of patients, with high safety.