Objective To summarize the association between CYP1A1 rs4646903 polymorphisms and COPD risk. Methods Systematic literature search was conducted (up to January 2016) in five online databases, ie. PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP database, and WanFang databases. The strength of association was calculated by odds ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Results Six case-control studies with 1 050 cases and 1 202 controls were included. This study suggested a significant association between the CYP1A1 rs4646903 polymorphism and COPD risk (CC vs. TT: OR=1.63, 95%CI 1.17-2.27, P=0.004; CC vs. TC+TT: OR=1.62, 95%CI 1.19-2.20, P=0.002). However, there was no significant difference between allele model (C vs. T, OR=1.20, 95%CI 0.95-1.51, P=0.118) and dominant model (CC+TC vs. TT, OR=1.19, 95%CI 0.82-1.72, P=0.366). Conclusions The CYP1A1 rs4646903 polymorphisms might alter the susceptibility of COPD. More well-designed studies with larger sample size are warranted.