Background To explore the clinical safety and efficacy of single-stage posterior-only debridement, decompression, allograft bone using titanium mesh and interbody fusion combined for the treatment of thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis complicated with psoas abscesses. Methods A total of 38 patients diagnosed with thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis complicated with psoas abscesses underwent surgery via single-stage posterior-only debridement, decompression, allograft bone using titanium mesh and interbody fusion from January 2010 to September 2016 were enrolled in the study. The clinical efficacy of the approach was assessed based on parameters including operating time, blood loss, Cobb angle, visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, Frankel grade, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Results The surgery duration was 224.4 ± 71.1 min with a blood loss of 731.8 ± 585.8 ml. The Cobb angle was corrected from 16.0 ± 15.4° preoperatively to 8.1 ± 7.4° postoperatively (P Conclusion Single-stage posterior-only debridement, decompression, allograft bone using titanium mesh and interbody fusion is a safe and effective approach for the management of thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis complicated with psoas abscesses.