Objective To observe the distribution of actinomycetes in tonsil tissue of children and explore the diversity of pathogens in children’s chronic tonsillitis. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 223 children who underwent tonsillectomy for chronic tonsillitis or tonsillar hypertrophy in our hospital from Dec 2019 to Jan 2020. According to the medical history, all the cases were divided into two groups: group A (n=128) and group B (n=95), and the presence of actinomycetic clumps in tonsil specimens of the two groups was observed and compared. Results There were 47 positive cases (21.9%) of actinomycetes clumps, including 37 cases in group A (28.9%) and 10 cases in group B (10.5%), and the difference of positive rate between the two groups was statistically significant (P>0.05). Stratified analysis was conducted according to different age groups of 2~4 years, 5~7 years, and ≥8 years. It was found that the positive rate of actinomycetes increased with age. The positive rate of actinomycetes in ≥8 years age group was up to 36.8%, showing a positive correlation with age (r_s=0.249， P<0.05). This positive correlation mainly existed in group A (r_s=0.278， P<0.05), while the differences of positive rate among different age subgroups in group B were statistically insignificant (P>0.05). Conclusions Actinomycetes are common in the tonsil tissue removed from children with chronic tonsillitis and the positive rate increases with age. Drugs targeting actinomycosis should be considered in the selection of antibiotics in clinical treatment.