Objective To assess the clinical efficacy and safety of Xingnaojing for treating cerebral infarction. Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified from MEDLINE (1966 to April 2005), EMBASE (1984 to April 2005), Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Issue 2, 2005), CBMdisc (1978 to April 2005). We handsearched the related published and unpublished data and their references. All trials about Xingnaojing injection for cerebral infarction were included. Data were extracted and evaluated by two reviewers independently with designed extraction from RevMan 4.2.7 software was used for data analysis. Results Thirteen RCTs involving 1203 patients were include .The results of meta-analysis were listed as the following:①Mortality:Compared with danshen ,2 studies showed that Xingnaojing decreased mortality statistically (RR 0.31 and 95% CI 0.14 to 0.70).Compared with cerebrolysin ,1 study showed Xingnaojing didn’t decrease the mortality (RR 0.92 ,95%CI 0.14 to 6.27);②Total effective rate: Compared with Danshen ,4 studies showed that Xingnaojing were more effective (RR 0.92,95% CI 1.12 to 1.42 ); ③ Cure rate: Compared with each control , Xingnaojing had the same cure rate ;④ Adverse effect: The number of adverse drug reaction was small and the symptoms were moderate;⑤Neurologic impairment score:Compared with Danshen ,3 studies showed that Xingnaojing had better improvement (WMD 3.78 ,95%CI 2.30 to 5.26).Conclusions xingnaojing may decrease the mortality and increase the total effective rate of cerebral infarction .More high quality trials are required.