Gastric cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in the world today. Recently, there is a large sample volume of published case-control studies on XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism with gastric cancer. This will have an important impact on published article by meta-analysis regarding XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism with gastric cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to update by meta-analysis to comprehensively investigate the relationship between DNA repair gene XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and gastric cancer. To preciously examine the association between the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and gastric cancer, we undertook a meta-analysis of 12 case-control studies. The association between the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and gastric cancer risk was assessed by odds ratios together with their 95 % confidence intervals using a fixed-effects model or random-effects model. We found that the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism was not associated with an increased gastric cancer risk. However, the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism was associated with decreased gastric cancer risk in Asians. In addition, there is no evidence of association on XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism with response to chemotherapy and prognosis in gastric cancer. The XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism might influence gastric cancer risk in Asians.