Purpose <p>To evaluate the astigmatism correcting effect of the femtosecond laser-assisted arcuate keratotomy (FSAK) during femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) in Chinese people.</p> Methods <p>The retrospective study included consecutive patients who underwent combined FSAK and FLACS, with corneal astigmatism of 0.75 to 2.25 diopters (D). Three vectors of astigmatism were analyzed using the Alpines vector analysis: target-induced astigmatism (TIA), surgically induced astigmatism (SIA), and difference vector (DV). The correction index (CI), angle of error (AE), magnitude of error (ME), and coefficient of adjustment (CA) were calculated. Corneal astigmatism was measured before and 3 months after surgery.</p> Results <p>A total of 129 eyes from 107 patients were enrolled. The corneal astigmatism was significantly reduced from 1.34 ± 0.36 D to 0.69 ± 0.47 D (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001). The TIA was 1.36 ± 0.37 D, the SIA was 1.16 ± 0.69 D, and the DV was 0.7 ± 0.47 D. The ME (difference between SIA and TIA) was − 0.2 ± 0.65 D, and the CI (ratio of SIA to TIA) was 0.86 ± 0.49. The CA (inverse of the CI) was 1.79 ± 1.65. The AE was − 0.02° ± 18.33°. The corneal astigmatism significantly decreased in all axes of astigmatism (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001). Postoperatively, the residual astigmatism magnitudes were 0.76 ± 0.44 D in with-the-rule (WTR), 0.63 ± 0.51 D in against-the-rule (ATR), and 0.62 ± 0.44 D in oblique (OBL). The CI values were 0.65 ± 0.31, 1.22 ± 0.52, and 0.80 ± 0.40 in WTR, ATR, and OBL, respectively.</p> Conclusion <p>The modified FSAK for Chinese cataract patients effectively and safely reduced corneal astigmatism.</p>