Objective To learn the postoperative wound complications of thyroid and parathyroid, respiratory complications, duration of hospital stay and postoperative mortality, so as to further clarify the clinical effectiveness of placing drainage tube after thyroid and parathyroid surgery. Methods The following databases as The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMbase, SCI and CNKI were retrieved orderly from the date of their establishment to March 29th, 2011. The literature was screened strictly according to inclusive criteria, included studies were analyzed using RevMan5.1.2 software, and the evidence levels of all indicators were evaluated using GRADEpro 3.5.1 software. Results A total of 16 studies involving 1 907 participants were included. There was no high-quality literature. No case reports of death and respiratory distress syndrome. Comparing the drainage group with the non-drainage group among the 16 studies, no significant difference was found in the incidence of re-operation, wound hematoma/seroma, wound infection and subcutaneous fluids. Incision pain score was significantly different between the two groups (RR=2.15, 95%CI 1.10 to –4.23, P=0.03); and the duration of hospital stay was significantly prolonged in the drainage group (SMD=0.79, 95%CI 0.38 to –1.20, I2=93%, P=0.000 2). Conclusion The evidence shows that drainage after thyroid and parathyroid surgery can not significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative complications; but increase the duration of hospital stay. Current evidence is based on the circumstance of non-substernal goiter surgery, normal coagulation indexes and non neck lymphadenectomy, which does not apply to the conclusion of this study. It is suggested that this issue should be further studied in the future due to the lack of high-quality, multi-center and large-scale RCTs.