Objective To compare the application effect of different pain scales in the assessment of pain in patients undergoing radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for atrial fibrillation. Methods A total of 160 patients to receive RFA for atrial fibrillation were selected as the research subjects. The intraoperative pain assessment was performed using Numeric Rating Scale, Visual Analogue Scale, the Faces Pain Scale-Revised of Wong-Baker and Verbal Description Scale. The differences in patient preference, response time, and criterion validity of different pain scales were compared. Results The four pain scales showed significant differences in patient preference, and response time (all P.<0.05), with the Faces Pain Scale-Revised of Wong-Baker and the Verbal Description Scale enjoying the highest preferred rate, and registering the shortest response time. There were no significant differences in the preferred rates of the four pain scales among patients of different genders, ages, and educational levels (all P>0.05). At different time points during ablation, the scores of the Verbal Description Scale, Faces Pain Scale-Revised of Wong-Baker, and Visual Analogue Scale were highly correlated with the Numeric Rating Scale (as the criterion) scores (r=0.774-0.886, all P.<0.05). Conclusion The 4 scales have good pain assessment effects in RFA for atrial fibrillation, and the Faces Pain Scale-revised of Wong-Baker and the Verbal Description Scale have the best clinical effect.