Recent studies have demonstrated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) could serve as potential molecular markers for disease diagnosis; however, little is known about their diagnostic value in active tuberculosis (TB). This study first performed a microarray screening of circRNA changes in plasma samples from 3 patients with active pulmonary TB and 3 healthy controls. Then, candidate circRNAs were selected for validation on a quantitative real-time PCR system. Of the 61 differentially expressed circRNAs recorded, 43 and 18 were upregulated and downregulated in the TB group, respectively. Validation assays demonstrated that plasma levels of 6 circRNAs, including hsa_circ_0009024, hsa_circ_0001953, hsa_circ_0008297, hsa_circ_0003528, hsa_circ_0003524 and hsa_circ_0015879 were remarkably increased in TB patients. Plasma levels of hsa_circ_0001953 and hsa_circ_0009024 were correlated with TB severity. Next, hsa_circ_0001953 and hsa_circ_0009024 were assessed in an independent cohort consisting of 120 TB patients and 100 control individuals. An area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.915 (95% confidence interval 0.880-0.951; P < 0.001) was obtained for detecting TB, with hsa_circ_0001953 and hsa_circ_0009024 used in combination. Additionally, plasma levels of hsa_circ_0001953 and hsa_circ_0009024 were reduced significantly in patients after treatment (P < 0.001). The present findings indicate that the circRNAs hsa_circ_0001953 and hsa_circ_0009024 may represent novel plasma biomarkers for active TB diagnosis.