Abstract: Objective To systematically review the effectiveness and safety of open and laparoscopic surgeries for treatment of adrenal tumors. Methods The online databases including CNKI, PUBMED, SinoMed, EBSCO, Springerlink, WanFang Data, and VIP were searched for clinical trials published from 1999 to 2016. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. Results A total of 2340 patients in 25 trials were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that laparoscopic surgery was better than open surgery in terms of intestinal function recovery time (OR=-0.96, 95%CI [-1.22, -0.70] P<0.000 01), hospitalization time (OR=-3.48, 95%CI [-4.13, -2.78], P<0.000 01), complications (OR=0.22, 95%CI [0.14, 0.35], P<0.0001), and volume of blood loss (OR=-104.77, 95%CI [-138.95, -70.60], P<0.000 01). There was no significant difference in the surgery cost between open and laparoscopic surgeries. Conclusion Laparoscopic surgery is superior to open surgery for treatment of adrenal tumors for shorter intestinal function recovery time, surgery duration, and hospitalization time and less complications and blood loss.