Several case-control studies on the relation between matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 gene -1607 1G>2G polymorphism and colorectal cancer do not have similar conclusions. The previous two meta-analyses focusing on the same issue also were inconsistent. To further evaluate the relation between the MMP-l gene polymorphism and colorectal cancer, we selected eight case-control studies related to MMP-1 gene polymorphism and colorectal cancer by searching MEDLINE, Embase, CANCERLIT, American Association for Cancer Research, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese CNKI, and Wanfang database. Q test and I (2) test were used to test the heterogeneity. We utilized the random effects model to calculate the odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI), and the overall effect of P value using the RevMan 5.2 software. The present study included 1,403 patients with colorectal cancer and 1,754 healthy control subjects. Both -1607 2G/2G genotype carriers [OR = 1.59, 95 % CI (1.27-2.01); P < 0.001] and the -1607 2G allele carriers [OR = 1.26, 95% CI (1.05-1.51); P = 0.01] were found to have an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Therefore, we concluded that MMP-1 -1607 1G>2G polymorphism was associated with colorectal cancer.