AIM: To evaluate the survival outcomes of patients with lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma who underwent eye-sparing surgery combined with 125I seed implantation radiotherapy or local external γ-ray radiotherapy. METHODS: In this retrospective comparative case series, the clinical records of 27 primary and 8 recurrent patients were reviewed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors associated with distant metastasis (DM), and the overall survival (OS) after the initial surgery was analyzed. RESULTS: The median follow-up after radiotherapy was 36mo (range 6-120mo). At the last follow-up after radiotherapy, 26 (74.3%) patients had no evidence of disease, 7 (20%) patients had DM, 2 (5.9%) patients died of DM, and 1 patient with DM was lost to follow-up. Univariate analyses showed that duration of symptoms, bone destruction, T stage classification, and wide excision surgery were risk factors influencing DM (P<0.05). The 5-year and 10-year OS rates after the initial surgery were 95.8% and 79.9%, respectively. The 5-year DM-free survival and disease-free survival rates after radiotherapy were 66.4% and 52.7%, respectively. CONCLUSION: 125I seed radiotherapy and local external γ-ray radiotherapy may have similar therapeutic effects in preventing DM. Patients with T1/T2 stage disease have a better prognosis than those with T3/T4 stage disease.