Objective To explore the application effect of emotional induction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills teaching among nursing undergraduates. Methods A total of 35 and 31 nursing undergraduates enrolled in 2018 and 2019 were selected as a control group and an experimental group respectively.The control group adopted the traditional teaching model of "teacher demonstration-student exercise-teacher guidance" in the teaching of cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills, while the experimental group additionally incorporated different themes of emotional induced content. Results The scores of cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills and cardiopulmonary resuscitation self-efficacy in the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group (all P＜0.05) at the end of the course, 3 months and 6 months after the course, and there was no significant decrease in the score of cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills in the experimental group as time went on. Conclusion Emotional-induced integration teaching can effectively increase the learning engagement of nursing undergraduates, thus improve the learning effect, and promote the retention of cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills and self-efficacy of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.