Objective To assess the effect of recovery training on nurses′ sleep quality and work engagement. Methods A total of 114 clinical nurses who had poor recovery experience were randomly and evenly assigned to a control group and an intervention group, receiving either routine humanistic caring or a 4week recovery training program. The Recovery Experience Questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale9 (UWES9) were employed to evaluate the effect before and 3 days after the intervention, as well as at 1 and 3 months after the intervention. Results The intervention group had better recovery experience, sleep quality and work engagement compared with the control group at different timepoints (P<0.01 for group, time, as well as group and time interaction). Conclusion The recovery training can effectively improve nurses′ sleep quality and work engagement.