Objective To investigate the clinical effect of acupuncture in the treatment of dysphagia after craniocerebral injury. Methods A total of 42 patients with dysphagia after craniocerebral injury were randomly divided into control group and observation group, with 20 patients in each group. In addition to basic swallowing training, the patients in the observation group were given acupuncture, while those in the control group were given sham acupuncture, for 30 minutes each time, once a day for 4 consecutive weeks. The two groups were compared in terms of fibrolaryngoscopy scores (pharyngeal movement and sensation scores, secretion score, residual score, and leakage/aspiration score) and water swallow test score before and after treatment, and clinical outcome was assessed based on the results of the water swallow test. Results After treatment, the observation group had significantly higher normalization rates of pharyngeal movement and sensation than the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, both groups had significant reductions in secretion score, vallecula epiglottica residue score, pyriform sinus residual score, and leakage/aspiration score (P<0.05), and the observation group had significantly lower scores than the control group after treatment (P<0.05). The observation group had a significantly better clinical outcome than the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion In patients with dysphagia after craniocerebral injury, acupuncture combined with basic swallowing training can improve swallowing function and reduce the accumulation of secretions in the throat, residues in the vallecula epiglottica and pyriform sinus after eating, and the onset of leakage or aspiration.