Objective The study tried to compare the effectiveness and safety of target controlled infusion of sufentanil with traditional remifentanil in improving postoperative pain relief and recovery quality in patients undergoing daytime laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Methods This study is a prospective randomized controlled study， which selecting 100 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the day ward of our hospital from October 2019 to October 2022 as the observation subjects. Patients were divided into two groups using a random digitization method， with 50 patients receiving intraoperative target controlled infusion of remifentanil （conventional group） and 50 patients receiving intraoperative target controlled infusion of sufentanil （study group）. Observe the postoperative pain， nausea and vomiting， spontaneous breathing recovery time， awakening time， extubation time， directional force recovery time， as well as changes in blood pressure and heart rate during the perioperative period （before anesthesia induction （T₀）， 5 minutes after anesthesia induction （T₁）， intubation operation （T₂）， skin incision （T₃）， abdominal observation （T₄）， and extubation （T₅） in two groups of patients. Results The visual analog scale （VAS） within 3 hours after surgery in the study group was lower than that in the control group （P < 0.05）. However， the recovery time of spontaneous breathing， awakening time， extubation time， and directional force recovery time in the research group were longer than those in the conventional group （P < 0.05）. After 5 minutes of anesthesia induction （T₁）， the blood pressure in the control group was lower than that in the study group. At extubation （T₅）， the blood pressure and heart rate in the control group were higher than those in the study group （P < 0.05）. There was no difference in the incidence of perioperative adverse events between the two groups of patients. Conclusions Targeted infusion of sufentanil for patients undergoing daytime laparoscopic cholecystectomy has the advantages of smoother hemodynamics and significant analgesic effects. However， early discontinuation of the medication is necessary due to the prolonged postoperative recovery time of patients.