X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) is a major DNA repair protein in the base excision repair pathway. XRCC1 rs3213245 is a functional polymorphism in the XRCC1 gene promoter region which results in decreased DNA repair capacity. Previous studies investigating the association of XRCC1 rs3213245 polymorphism with lung cancer risk reported conflicting results. A meta-analysis of published studies was performed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the association. The pooled odds ratio (OR) with its 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) was calculated to assess the association. Subgroup analysis was performed by ethnicity. Finally, six studies with a total of 3,208 cases and 3,505 control studies were included into our meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that there was a significant association between XRCC1 rs3213245 polymorphism and lung cancer risk (allele model: OR =1.31, 95 % CI 1.13-1.51, P < 0.001; homozygote model: OR = 1.42, 95 % CI 1.13-1.79, P = 0.003; recessive model: OR = 1.39, 95 % CI 1.13-1.71, P = 0.002; dominant model: OR = 1.31, 95 % CI 1.17-1.47, P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis by ethnicity showed that the association was still significant in both Asians (all P values less than 0.05) and Caucasians (recessive model: OR = 1.26, 95 % CI 1.01-1.59, P = 0.045). Thus, there is a significant association of XRCC1 rs3213245 polymorphism with lung cancer risk.