Objective To evaluate the effectivenss of Chinese herbal retention enema in viral hepatitis patients. Methods Such databases as The Cochrane library, PubMed, EMbase, VIP, CNKI, CBM and WanFang Data were searched from the inception to December, 2011 to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about Chinese herbal retention enema in treating viral hepatitis, and the references of the included literature were also retrieved. Two reviewers independently screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted the data, and evaluated and cross-checked the methodological quality. Then meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.0 software. Results A total of 20 RCTs involving 1 735 patients were included. The subgroup analyses based on the length of intervention time showed that: a) after 2-week intervention: the overall effective rate of the Chinese herbal retention enema group was higher than that of the control group, with a significant difference (OR=3.19, 95%CI 1.87 to 5.44, Plt;0.000 1). Compared with the control group, the Chinese herbal retention enema group better promoted the recovery of liver function by more reduction of AST (MD= ?82.50, 95%CI ?145.66 to ?19.34, P=0.01), ALT (MD= ?44.78, 95%CI 65.90 to ?23.66, Plt;0.000 1) and TBIL (MD= ?37.51, 95%CI ?74.07 to ?0.95, Plt;0.0001). b) After 1-month intervention: The overall effective rate of the Chinese herbal retention enema group was higher than that of the control group, with a significant difference (OR=4.17, 95%CI 2.37 to 7.32, Plt;0.000 01). Compared with the control group, the Chinese herbal retention enema group better promoted the recovery of liver function by more reduction of AST (MD= ?17.86, 95%CI ?29.97 to ?5.76, P=0.004), ALT (MD= ?27.84, 95%CI ?42.45 to ?13.24, P=0.000 2), and TBIL (MD= ?54.15, 95%CI ?116.52 to ?8.23, P=0.09). Conclusion Chinese herbal retention enema can improve the overall effective rate for viral hepatitis patients, alleviate virus damage to liver cell and promote liver function recovery. The commonly used Chinese medicinals for enema are Radix et Rhizoma Rhei, Herba Artemisiae Capillaris, Salvia miltiorrhiza, and Radix Paeoniae Rubra.