Smoking and the deletion of GSTM1 variant are two risk factors of lung cancer. This meta-analysis was performed to examine the GSTM1-smoking interaction on lung cancer in the Chinese population. PubMed, Web of Science, and other Chinese databases were searched to include all the related studies. The number of subjects with two GSTM1 genotypes across different smoking status was extracted. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using fixed- or random-effect model. A total of 4,345 cases and 5,031 controls from 30 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with nonsmokers having power GSTM1, the pooled ORs with 95 % CIs for lung cancer in smokers with power GSTM1, in nonsmokers with null GSTM1, and in smokers with null GSTM1 were 2.24 (1.82-2.76), 1.48 (1.23-1.79), and 4.18 (3.38-5.16), respectively. This meta-analysis showed that there was an interaction between the GSTM1 and smoking on the risk of lung cancer in the Chinese. Further studies are needed to examine the interactions between other environmental factors and GSTM1 on the risk of lung cancer.