The invention discloses a method for using plugh mixing type horizontal reactor to produce hydroxyethylcellulose, which comprises adding cellulose at 50-90% of reactor volume, solvent at 0.5-5.0 mass times of the cellulose, water and sodium hydroxide into a reactor, exchanging the air in the reactor via nitrogen gas, processing alkalization reaction, adding ethylene oxide into the reactor, processing etherification reaction, adding acid into the reactor to neutralize, and controlling pH value at 4.5-8.0, to obtain the paste containing hydroxyethylcellulose, and refining to obtain the hydroxyethylcellulose whose hydroxyethyl MS (mol substituent degree) is 1.6-3.5. The invention has the advantages of low solvent consumption, high device effective utilization, high product yield, high purity, low energy consumption, low solvent loss and low compressive cost, which is suitable for energy saving and low pollution discharge.