Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of gefitinib in comparison with platinum-based doublets chemotherapy as a first-line precision treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and find the benefit population of gefitinib. Methods The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Internet, VIP database and China Biology Medicine database were searched to collect the randomized contolled trials (RCTs) of gefitinib vs. platinum-based doublets chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC from inception to November, 2017. The data in the included RCTs were extracted, and the qualities were assessed in accordance with Cochrane Collaboration, and a Meta-analysis was conducted with RevMan 5.3 software. Results Four trials were included, including 968 subjects in the gefitinib group and 968 subjects in the chemotherapy group, and a majority of the subjects were diagnosed advanced adenocarcinoma, and all of the subjects were East Asians. The results of Meta-analysis showed that in all population or patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive, gefitinib was better than chemotherapy in progression-free survival (PFS) [in all population: hazard ratio (HR)=0.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.67, 0.85), P<0.000 01; in patients withEGFR mutation-positive: HR=0.42, 95%CI (0.35, 0.50), P<0.000 01] and objective response rate (ORR) [in all population: risk ratio (RR)=1.30, 95%CI (1.15, 1.47), P<0.000 1; in patients withEGFR mutation-positive: RR=1.92, 95%CI (1.46, 2.52), P<0.000 01], and there was no significant difference between the two groups in overall survival (OS) (P>0.05); but inEGFR mutation-negative, chemotherapy was better than gefitinib in PFS [HR=2.09, 95%CI (1.05, 4.13), P=0.03]. Subgroup analysis showed that in female patients, for patients with Performance Status (PS) score 0 or 1, and the ones who never smoked, gefitinib was better than chemotherapy in PFS (P<0.05); but there was no significant difference between the two groups in OS (P>0.05). The incidences of rash, itching, dry skin, paronychia, diarrhea, aminotransferase abnormality were higher in the gefitinib group (P<0.05), while the incidences of hair loss, vomiting, nausea, constipation, anorexia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and neutropenia, anemia, fatigue, nerve toxicity reaction were higher in the chemotherapy group (P<0.05). Conclutions Based on the current evidence, in patients with adenocarcinoma of East Asians, the benefit population are those with the characteristics of EGFR mutation-positive, female, never smoking, and PS 0 or 1. In the aspect of safety, the common adverse drug events in subjects treated with gefitinib are the damage of skin mucous membrane, but the incidences of digestive system diseases and the blood system diseases are less in patients treated with gefitinib than those with chemotherapy.