[2][3] Li Xuerui won fourteen Superseries titles, confirming her status as China's second most successful player after Wang Yihan.

She made her professional debut as a badminton player when she attended the Asia Junior championship which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In 2008, she won a gold medal at the Asian Junior championship, which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In 2010, Li Xuerui won her first Grand Prix Gold title at the Macau Open, in the final she defeated Adrianti Firdasari from Indonesia with a score of 21–18, 21–15.

Li won the prestigious Super Series Premier event title at the All England Open for the first time by beating Wang Yihan in the final with a score of 21–13, 21–19.

In 2013, she won a silver medal in the World Championship when she was defeated by Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon in the final with a score of 22–20, 18–21, 14–21.

Li made her return to professional badminton at the 2017 National Games of China, where she played women's doubles but lost at the group stage.

[5] In 2018, she made her return to international women's singles after a hiatus of 600 days at the 2018 Lingshui China Masters, which she won.

She reached the quarter final at the All England Open, but was stopped by the 2017 World Champion from Japan Nozomi Okuhara with a score of 17–21, 14–21.

She announced her retirement from the international circuit in the first round match against Sayaka Takahashi in Korea Open on 17 October after trailing in the 2nd game 15-21, 3-11.