The term acupuncture sensation is a modern concept that represents the objective manifestation of “Deqi”.Acupuncture efficacy refers to the objective outcomes produced after acupuncture.Many medical practitioners believe that clinical efficacy is only achieved when acupuncture sensation occurs.However,clinical findings have shown that efficacy can also be observed without acupuncture sensation.Therefore,this paper reviewed and summarized relevant literature on the relationship between acupuncture sensation and clinical efficacy,finding that clinical efficacy could be achieved with or without acupuncture sensation.However,there was a significant difference in clinical efficacy between them,with acupuncture sensation yielding superior results.Additionally,there was no significant difference in clinical efficacy between explicit acupuncture sensation and implicit acupuncture sensation.Factors influencing acupuncture sensation were also summarized to provide insights for improving clinical acupuncture efficacy.