Objective To assess the efficacy and the treatment-induced side effects of intravesically administered Epirubicin (EPI) following TUR in patients with Ta and T1 superficial bladder cancer compared to TUR alone. Methods According to the Cochrane reviewer’s handbook, included studies were those on patients with histologically confirmed Ta and T1 bladder cancer. EPI and EPI derivatives, dose and schedule would be considerd appropriate for inclusion. The search strategy was developed according to the Collaborative Review Group search strategy. Medline, EMbase, CBMdisc and the Cochrane library, articles of conference proceedings, and academic collections were searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCT comparing intravesical EPI following TUR with TUR alone. Data were extracted from each identified paper independently by two reviewers. Trials were assessed for quality according to the method of Jadad scale. RevMan4.2 software developed by the Cochrane Collaboration was used for satistical analysis. Results Two hundred and thirteen related articles were identified, but only 10 were included in our systematic review. 3 articles were high quality and the rest were low. The pooled RR=1.51 (95%CI 1.32 to 1.72) and the pooled RR=1.49 (95%CI 1.35 to 1.66) in patients with Ta and T1 bladdercancer at 1 and 2 years respectively; The pooled RR=1.34 (95%CI 1.22 to 1.48) when comparing relative efficacy of intravesical EPI (drug doselt;50 mg) following TUR with TUR alone; The pooled RR=1.63 (95%CI 1.48 to 1.79) when comparing relative efficacy of intravesical EPI (drug dosegt;50 mg) following TUR with TUR alone. RR=1.49 (95%CI 1.33 to 1.66) and RR=1.56 (95%CI 1.36 to 1.84) when comparing relative efficacy of single intravesical EPI following TUR with TUR alone respectively. RR=0.79 (95%CI 0.53 to 1.17) when comparing the incidence of disease progression of intravesical doxorubicin following TUR with TUR alone. RR=4.34 (95%CI 2.62 to 7.19) when comparing side effect of intravesical EPI following TUR with TUR alone. Conclusions Intravesically administered EPI following TUR in patients with Ta and T1 superficial bladder cancer may reduce the incidence of tumour recurrence, but cannot reduce the incidence of disease progreesion. Intravesically administered EPI following TUR has some side effects but can be tolerated and has no influence on the life of patients.