Objective To systematically evaluate the effectiveness and safety of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) for IgA Nephropathy (IgAN). Methods Databases including CNKI, CBM, MEDLINE, PubMed, The Cochrane Library and SCI were searched from January 1997 to January 2012, and the domestic conference data and relevant published articles were also searched manually. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on MMF in treating IgAN were independently collected and screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria by two reviewers. The data were extracted, the quality of the included studies was assessed and cross-checked, and then meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.0 software. Results A total of 8 RCTs involving 272 patients with IgAN were included. The results of meta-analyses showed that: a) There were no significant differences in the overall effective rate (RR=0.72, 95%CI 0.21 to 2.52, P=0.61) between the MMF group and the placebo group, but the overall effective rate was higher in the MMF+hormone group than the CTX+hormone group (RR=4.21, 95%CI 1.86 to 9.53, Plt;0.000 1) and other immunosuppressants +hormone groups (RR=3.03, 95%CI 1.47 to 6.25, P=0.003); and b) Adverse reaction: The overall incidence rate of adverse reaction in the MMF+hormone group was lower than the CTX+hormone group (RR=0.16, 95%CI 0.07 to 0.37, Plt;0.000 1). There were no significant differences in the elevated serum creatinine rate (RR=2.28, 95%CI 0.65 to 7.94, P=0.20) and the case number of developing end-stage renal disease (ESRD) (RR=2.37, 95%CI 0.44 to 12.83, P=0.32) between the MMF group and the control group. Conclusion MMF combined with hormone in treating IgAN can increase the overall effective rate and decrease the overall incidence rate of adverse reaction, but its effectiveness of improving long-term survival rate has to be further proved by conducting more high-quality, multi-center and large-scale clinical trials. MMF alone has the same effect as the placebo dose, and it shows no differences in elevated serum creatinine after the treatment compared with conventional therapies.