Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine in the development and progress in human cancer. TNF-α polymorphisms have been confirmed to influence the risk for several types of cancer, however, the associations between TNF-α polymorphisms and breast cancer (BC) remain controversial and ambiguous. The aim of this meta-analysis is to explore more precise estimations regarding this point. Electronic searches of several databases were conducted for all online publications on the associations between TNF-α-238, -308, -857, -863, -1031, -1210 polymorphisms and BC through March 2011. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated to assess the strength of these associations in fixed- and random-effect models with Review manager 5.0. A total of 17 studies with 44,442 BC patients and 49,926 controls involved were identified. This meta-analysis showed no significant association between TNF-α-308 polymorphism and BC (AA + GA vs. GG: OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.82-1.09) in overall and (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 0.61-3.40) Asian populations, however, a negative association was shown in Caucasian subgroup (OR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.85-0.97). As regards the TNF-α-238 polymorphism, the OR values (95% CI) were 0.99 (0.94-1.05), 0.94 (0.78-1.14), and 1.00 (0.95-1.05) for the overall, Asian, and Caucasian studies, respectively. No significant associations were found for other polymorphisms. Furthermore, there was a coincidence in the sensitivity analysis of these associations. No publication bias was detected in this study. To sum up, no significant associations were found between the TNF-α-308, -238, -857, -863, -1031, -1210 polymorphisms and the risk for BC in overall populations, whereas a negative association was found between TNF-α-308 polymorphism and BC in Caucasian populations.