Background: In mild to moderate gallstone pancreatitis, cholecystectomy is the most appropriate treatment for prevention of further biliary attacks. However, the timing of cholecystectomy is not precisely determined. The present study was conducted to compare outcomes of very early (within 48 h) versus delayed (more than 1 week) laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP). . Two hundred and eight cases with mild to moderate ABP were randomly assigned to 2 groups, with 104 patients in group 1 (operation within 48 h) and 104 in group 2 (operation after one week). Age, sex, biochemical parameters, clinical manifestation at the time of admission, operation time, recurrent biliary problems, relapse, peri-operative complications, conversion rate, and hospital length of stay in the two groups were recorded and compared. In addition, Ranson's score and Revised Atlanta criteria, the American Society of Anaesthesiologists Physical Status ASA-PS, Charlson Co-Morbidity Index (CCI), complexity of surgery and Clavien-Dindo score were also determined. Results: There were no differences in demographics, peri-operative complications 4 (4%) vs. 4 (4%), P ¼ 1), conversion rate (10.6% vs. 11.5%; P ¼ 0.825) and procedure time (83 vs. 81 minutes, P ¼ 0.110) between the two groups. There were no deaths in either group; however, the length of hospital stay was shorter in the early group compared to the delayed one, (3.66 AE 1.12 vs. 10.35 AE 1.76, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Cholecystectomy within 48 h decreases significantly the length of hospital stay, without any difference in conversion rate, procedure time, or complication rate.