Objective: To compare the efficacy of indocyanine green (IGG) with that of carbon nanoparticles suspension injection for detection of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in breast cancer. Methods: One-hundred and thirty-six patients with early breast cancer undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) from November 2013 to July 2016 were enrolled. Of the patients, IGG was used as a tracer in 60 cases (IGG group) and carbon nanoparticles suspension injection was used in the other 76 cases (nano-carbon group). The relevant variables between the two groups were compared. Results: The general clinical data showed no statistical difference between the two group of patients (all P>0.05). Between IGG group and nano-carbon group, all the parameters that included the detection rate of the SLNs (96.67% vs. 100%), sensitivity (89.47% vs. 95.83%), accuracy (93.33% vs. 98.68%) and false negative rate (10.53% vs. 4.17%) had no statistical difference (all P>0.05). The number of detected SLNs in ICG group was less than that in nano-carbon group (3.17 vs. 3.92, P=0.000), but the time for detection in IGG group was significantly shorter than that in nano-carbon group (25.72 min vs. 49.29 min, P=0.000). Age and body mass index (BMI) did not affect the detection rate of SLNs and accuracy of SLNB of the two methods (all P>0.05). Conclusion: IGG and carbon nanoparticles suspension injection have similar efficiency for detection of SLNs in breast cancer, and both are easy and convenient to use.