TP53 codon 72 polymorphism has been reported to affect regulatory networks central to glioma development. Although a number of published studies noted the association between TP53 codon 72 polymorphism and glioma risk, their conclusions were inconsistent. A meta-analysis was used to assess the possible association between TP53 codon 72 polymorphism and glioma risk. The PubMed databases were searched, relevant articles were identified and data were retrieved based on the inclusion criteria. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were determined on the pooled dataset. We retrieved eight different studies including 2,260 glioma cases and 3,506 controls. However, no association was found between the TP53 codon 72 polymorphism and glioma risk regarding the comparison between glioma cases and the controls. By further stratification based on criteria such as tumor grade, and the geographical location of the patients and the relevant controls, we found a significant association in the subgroup of patients with high-grade glioma in Europeans compared to controls in two models of TP53 codon 72 polymorphism, which include the dominant model [C/C + G/C vs. G/G: OR=1.35, 95% CI (1.14, 1.59), P=0.0005, P(h)=0.13] and the additive model [C allele vs. G allele: OR=1.16, 95% CI (1.02, 1.33), P=0.03, P(h)=0.37]. Our analysis suggests that TP53 codon 72 polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of high-grade glioma development in Europeans.