Objective To explore how hospice nurses perceive the influencing factors of grief counseling, and to provide reference for further exploration of the path of grief counseling and standardized roll-out of hospice care. Methods Using descriptive phenomenological research design, 21 hospice nurses from 9 pilot centers of hospice care in Jiangsu province were selected for semi-structured interviews. The interview data were analyzed with Colaizzi′s 7-step analytical method. Results Three themes and 10 subthemes were summarized: personal factors (perceived importance and incompetence, accumulation of grief counseling experience, empathic involvement, benefit finding, job burnout), work-related factors (workload, attention and support from superiors) and patient factors (within-family relationships, spiritual needs, age and course of disease). Conclusion The factors influencing hospice nurses′ grief counseling service are complex. We should strengthen the cultivation of hospice nurses′ grief counseling ability, beef up organizational support for grief counseling, and pay attention to personalized needs of patients and their families in the process of grief counseling, so as to provide high-quality and high-level grief counseling services for them.