The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held a national final on 21 February 1981 at 21:20 CET at the Palladium in Geneva.

The Ken Warwick Ballet, the Le Feuillu Orchestra, and Jean Madd made guest appearances.

Due to the lack of songs selected by the juries, the broadcaster commissioned popular Swiss artists to submit two more songs— "San Gottardo" by Swiss Union and "Comme l'eau de la mer" by Pascal Auberson [fr].

[1] The winner was the song "Io senza te", composed by Nella Martinetti and Peter Reber [de] and performed by Peter, Sue and Marc, marking the fourth and last time the trio entered the Eurovision Song Contest.

At the close of voting, Switzerland had received 121 points in total; finishing in fourth place out of twenty countries.