Background: Reducing anesthesia‑controlled time (ACT) such as extubation time may improve operating room (OR) efficiency result from different anesthetic techniques. However, the information about the difference in ACT between desflurane (DES) anesthesia and propofol‑based total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) techniques for laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) under general anesthesia (GA) is not available in the literature. Methods: This retrospective study uses our hospital database to analyze the ACT of elective LC after either DES anesthesia or TIVA via target‑controlled infusion (TCI) with propofol from January 2010 to December 2011. The various time intervals including waiting for anesthesia time, anesthesia time, surgical time, extubation time, exit from OR after extubation, total OR time, postanesthetic care unit (PACU) stay time, and percentage of prolonged extubation (≥15 min) were compared between the two anesthetic techniques. Results: We included data from 622 patients undergoing LC, with 286 patients receiving TIVA and 336 patients receiving DES anesthesia. The extubation time was faster (7.8 ± 0.4 vs. 10.9 ± 0.4 min; P < 0.001) and the exit from OR after extubation was faster (6.8 ± 0.5 vs. 9.3 ± 0.5 min, P < 0.001) in the TIVA group than that in the DES group. Besides, the incidence of prolonged extubation was lower (4.5% vs. 10.1%, P = 0.014) in the TIVA group than that in the DES group. The prolonged extubation was associated with age, sex, anesthetic technique, and anesthesia time. Conclusions: In our hospital, propofol‑based TIVA by TCI provided faster extubation time, faster exit from OR after extubation, and lower prolonged extubation rate compared with DES anesthesia in LC. Besides, older age, female, DES anesthesia, and lengthy anesthesia time were factors affecting prolonged extubation.