Objective To compare the efficacy and incidence of complications between laparoscopic surgery and laparotomy on women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Methods We did a systematic literature search for studies from Ovid Database, MEDLINE, EMbase, Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2008), Chinese Biological Medicine Database, CNKI, Chinese VIP Database, and WANFANG Database on internet. The search time was from establishment of each database to December, 2008. Randomized controlled trials and non-randomized controlled trials were collected. The search was no limitation in language. We manually searched current and conference abstracts, and searched relevant reviews and their reference. RevMan 5.0 software was used for meta-analysis. Results Five non-randomized trials involving 417 patients were included. The results of meta-analyse showed that the short-term pregnancy rate in patients underwent laparoscopic surgery was significantly higher than that in patients underwent laparotomy (RR=1.42, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.80, P=0.003). The long-term pregnancy rate in patients underwent laparoscopic surgery and laparotomy was comparable (RR=0.85, 95%CI 0.68 to 1.07, P=0.17). The regular menstruation in patients underwent laparoscopic surgery and laparotomy was comparable (RR=0.91, 95%CI 0.79 to 1.05, P=0.18). The uterine adhesions in patients underwent laparoscopic surgery was significantly lower than that in patients underwent laparotomy (RR=0.02, 95%CI 0.00 to 0.18, P=0.000 2). The intra-abdominal adhesions of patients underwent laparoscopic surgery was significantly lower than that in patients underwent laparotomy (RR=0.02, 95%CI 0.00 to 0.13, Plt;0.000 1).Conclusions The limited evidence at present shows that the incidence and degree of pelvic adhesions occurred in patients with PCOS after laparoscopic surgery is much lower than those after laparotomy. It is not quite sure at this point about whether the pregnancy rate and regular menstruation of laparoscopic surgery are better than those of lararotomy or not. More evidence from high qualified multi-center studies is needed.