Background: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is an evidence based multimodal perioperative protocol focused on stress reduction of patients and the early return to normal work by introducing multiple measures such as preoperative patient counseling to reduce patient anxiety and stress , nutrition optimization, standardizing analgesia with restricted use of opioids, minimizing electrolyte and fluid imbalance, using lesser invasive surgical approaches and promoting early ambulation and feeding so that the patient recovers faster, experience less physiological stress, has a shorter hospital stay and have fewer complications. Present study is undertaken to compare the changes in serum cortisol level, a stress hormone, in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy with ERAS pathway and Conventional postoperative care, not following ERAS pathway.