The CYP2D6 gene has been suggested to play an important role in the pathogenesis of lung cancer. However, the results have been inconsistent. In this study, we performed a meta-analysis to clarify the association of CYP2D6 T188C variant with lung cancer. Published literature from PubMed, Embase, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang data were retrieved. Pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95 % confidence interval (CI) was calculated using fixed- or random-effects model. A total of nine studies (1,516 lung cancer cases and 1,950 controls) for CYP2D6 T188C variant were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis indicated that compared with CYP2D6 TT genotype, non-TT genotype (CC or CT) was significantly associated with lung cancer in the Chinese (OR = 1.61, 95 % CI = 1.38-1.87, p < 0.001), with no evidence of between-study heterogeneity (I (2) = 0.0 %, p = 0.991). The sensitivity analysis indicated that the association was stable and no publication bias was detected. The present meta-analysis supported the positive association of CYP2D6 T188C variant with lung cancer in the Chinese. Further large-scale studies with the consideration for gene-gene/gene-environment interactions should be conducted to investigate the association.