The normal recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) is separated from the vagus nerve and orbits the aortic arch on the left and the right subclavian artery on the right, traveling up the tracheoesophageal sulcus into the larynx. The non-recurrent laryngeal nerve (NRLN), also known as the laryngeal non-return nerve, is a rare anatomical variant of the RLN that separates from the lateral vagus nerve of the thyroid gland and enters the larynx without returning. The formation of right NRLN is associated with abnormal embryonic artery development, with an incidence of 0.3% to 0.8%, and the right side NRLN appears only when there is no arterial containment due to anatomical variation of the right subclavian artery. The incidence of left NRLN is 0.004%, which is seen only in people with right aortic arch or right heart. Failure to recognize NRLNs during thyroid surgery may cause nerve damage, unilateral NRLN injuries may result in hoarseness, and bilateral injuries may cause dyspnea. Due to the extremely low incidence of NRLN and the adverse consequences of injury, the diagnosis and treatment experience of two cases of right NRLN with right subclavian artery mutation encountered during thyroid cancer surgery is now reported in conjunction with the literature, hoping to help guide clinicians to identify such rare variants, and both cases have been confirmed to be Toniato IIA type, that is, parallel to the inferior thyroid artery and traversed into the larynx.