Objective To evaluate the clinical short-term efficacy and safety of application of glucocorticoids (GCs) before major abdominal surgery. Methods The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on application of GCs before major elective abdominal surgery were systematically and comprehensively searched in Medline (1966–2022), Embase (1947–2022), Web of Science, and PubMed databases, and systematic review and meta-analysis of the included studies were performed to explore the effects of application of GCs before major abdominal surgery on postoperative complication, hospital stay, and serum interleukin-6 level. Results Nineteen moderate quality RCTs with 1 535 patients were finally included in the analysis. Preoperative application of GCs reduced postoperative IL-6 level [MD=–51.00, 95%CI (–62.36, –39.63), P<0.001], reduced postoperative complications [OR=0.53, 95%CI (0.35, 0.81), P=0.003], shorten hospital stay [MD=–0.64, 95%CI (–1.04, –0.24), P=0.002], and reduced the occurrence of infectious complications [OR=0.50, 95%CI (0.36, 0.70), P<0.01]. However, there were no statistically significant difference in incidence of anastomotic leakage [OR=1.15, 95%CI (0.43, 3.04), P=0.780] and bile leakage [OR=1.95, 95%CI (0.76, 5.00), P=0.170]. Conclusion Preoperative application of GCs can reduce the level of IL-6, reduce complications after major abdominal surgery and shorten postoperative hospital stay.