Objective To systematically review the effectiveness of forced air warming for the maintenance of perioperative core temperature, so as to provide clinical evidence for an appropriate warming plan during the perioperative period. Methods We electronically searched PubMed, The Cochrane Library, EMbase, Web of Science, CBM and CNKI from 2000 to 2012, so as to comprehensively collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about the effectiveness of different warming methods for the maintenance of perioperative core temperature (including forced air warming, resistive-heating blanket/electric heating pad, circulating water mattress, and infrared ray radiant heating system) for maintenance of perioperative core temperature. References of the included studies were also retrieved. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and assessed the quality of the included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1 software. Results Eleven RCTs involving 577 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis indicated that, in the maintenance of core temperature during the perioperative period, forced air warming was superior to resistive-heating blanket/electric heating pad (SMD= –0.40, 95%CI –0.73 to –0.06), circulating water mattress (SMD= –1.10, 95%CI –1.55 to –0.66), and infrared ray radiant heating system (SMD= –0.69, 95%CI –1.06 to –0.32). In the incidence of hypothermia during the perioperative period, the group of forced air warming was lower than the group of blanket/electric heating pad (RR=1.76, 95%CI 1.15 to 2.69), but it was the same as the group of infrared ray radiant heating system (RR=1.37, 95%CI 0.83 to 2.27). In the incidence of shivering during the perioperative period, the group of forced air warming was the same as the group of blanket/electric heating pad (RR=0.75, 95%CI 0.18 to 3.21) and the group of infrared ray radiant heating system (RR=0.8, 95%CI 0.19 to 3.36). Conclusion Compared with resistive-heating blanket/electric heating pad, circulating water mattress, and infrared ray radiant heating system, forced air warming maintains patients’ core temperature better during the perioperative period, with a lower incidences of hypothermia. Due to the limited quantity and quality of the included studies, more high quality RCTs with large sample size are needed to verify the above conclusion.