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Introduction The aim of this article was to compare oncological outcomes after partial nephrectomy between patients with positive (PSM) and negative (NSM) surgical margins. Material and methods In this retrospective study, the data of 733 patients who underwent partial nephrectomy with diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were analyzed. A total of 80 patients from the NSM group were matched to 42 PSM patients. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate freedom from local disease recurrence and metastatic progression and overall survival. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the predictors for recurrence/metastasis. Results The mean age was 58.4 ±11.4 years (range: 29 to 82). Median follow-up was 24 months (IQ25-75: 15–36.2). A total of 5 patients from the PSM group (6.2%) developed local recurrence and metastasis was detected in 2 (2.5%) of them while no metastasis or recurrence was observed in the NSM group. In the multivariate analysis, positive surgical margin was the only independent predictor for recurrence/metastasis (HR[CI] = 0.19[0.04–0.75], p = 0.019). Recurrence-free survival was higher in the NSM group (100% for the NSM group vs 88.1%, p = 0.002) and recurrence/metastasis-free survival was also higher in the NSM group (100% for the NSM group vs 85.7%, p = 0.001), but there were no differences in overall survival between the two groups (96.3% for the NSM group vs 97.6% for the PSM group, p = 0.68). Conclusions Although tumor recurrence was more prevalent in positive surgical margin patients who underwent partial nephrectomy, there were no differences in overall survival between the two groups. Therefore, active surveillance against further surgery would be a proper option after finding the tumor-involved margins.