Objective To explore the trajectory of supportive care needs and its predictors among postoperative esophageal cancer patients. Methods General information questionnaire, the Supportive Care Needs Scale for Esophagectomy patients after Discharge (SCNS-ED), the Health Information Literacy Scale (HILS) and the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS) were used to assess the level of supportive care needs of 156 patients with radical esophageal cancer at the time of discharge and 1, 3, 6 months after the discharge, and then the latent growth curve model was applied to identify the trajectory of their supportive care needs, and the multinomial logistic regression was used to analyze its potential category predictors. Results Three trajectories of the supportive care needs were identified among postoperative esophageal cancer patients:a rapid decline in medium need group (15.4%), a zigzag decline in medium need group (30.8%), and a flat decline in high need group (53.8%). The results of the logistic regression analysis showed that, gender, age, family residence, educational background, the scores of HILS and PSSS were predictors of the trajectory of supportive care needs in postoperative esophageal cancer patients (all P<0.05). Conclusion Significant group heterogeneity exists in the trajectories of supportive care needs development in postoperative esophageal cancer patients within 6 months after the discharge,and three trajectories of change can be identified. Medical staff should identify patients′ supportive care needs early based on the predictors, and implement targeted and specific interventions to reduce their unmet needs, and improve their quality of life.