Epidemiological studies have evaluated the association between X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 gene (XRCC1) Arg399Gln and Arg194Trp polymorphisms and risk of prostate cancer (PCa). However, the results from the published studies on the association between these two XRCC1 polymorphisms and PCa risk are conflicting. To derive a more precise estimation of association between the XRCC1 polymorphisms and risk of PCa, we performed a meta-analysis. A comprehensive search was conducted to identify all case-control studies of XRCC1 polymorphisms and PCa risk. We used odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the strength of the association. Overall, we found that both Arg399Gln and Arg194Trp polymorphisms were not significantly associated with PCa risk. However, in stratified analysis by ethnicity, we found that the Arg399Gln polymorphism was significantly associated with PCa risk in Asian population (Gln/Gln vs Arg/Arg: OR=1.46, 95% CI: 1.05-2.03, P=0.03; Gln/Gln vs Arg/Gln+Arg/Arg: OR=1.48, 95% CI: 1.12-1.95, P=0.01). In this meta-analysis, we found that both Arg399Gln and Arg194Trp polymorphisms were not related to overall PCa risk. However, in subgroup analysis we found a suggestion that XRCC1 399Gln allele might be a low-penetrent risk factor for PCa only in Asian men.