Objective To develop a questionnaire measuring cancer patients′palliative care needs in accordance with Chinese culture, and to test its reliability and validity. Methods The Guidelines for the Practice of Hospice Care (Trial) was referred to and the Omaha problem classification system was used as the theoretical framework to develop an initial questionnaire through literature research, group discussion and Delphi experts consultation, then 198 cancer patients were investigated utilizing convenience sampling to test its reliability and validity. Results A questionnaire containing 28 items was formed finally, a total of 6 factors were yield according to exploratory factor analysis, the cumulative variance contribution rate was 70.563%. The content validity of the questionnaire was 0.933, and the content validity of each item was 0.813-1.000. The Cronbach′s α coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.934, and its test-retest reliability was 0.907. Conclusion The questionnaire of palliative care needs of cancer patients has good reliability and validity, and it can be used as an evaluation tool measuring cancer patients′ palliative care needs.