Objective To investigate the effect of postoperative recovery between trans-abdominal drainage and trans-perineum drainage in patients with rectal cancer. Methods The randomized controlled trials which were related with the comparison between trans-abdominal drainage and trans-perineum drainage of rectal cancer patients were searched from January 2006 to January 2016, and then a meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.2 software, basing on the data obtained from PubMed, CBM, CNKI, WanFang, and VIP database. Results The results of meta-analysis showed that, in the aspect of postoperative drainage, there was no significant difference in the postoperative drainage duration 〔MD=–0.03, 95% CI is (–1.63, 1.57), P=0.97〕 , volume of drainage liquid 〔MD=–9.53, 95% CI is (–104.95, 85.90), P=0.84〕 , and extubation time 〔MD=0.25, 95% CI is (–0.31, 0.82), P=0.38〕 between the trans-abdominal drainage group and the trans-perineum drainage group. In terms of postoperative infection, the trans-abdominal drainage could effectively reduce the incidence rate of drainage tube incision infection 〔OR=0.32, 95% CI is (0.21, 0.48), P<0.000 01〕 . However, there was no significant difference in the abdominal incision infection 〔OR=0.84, 95% CI is (0.51, 1.36), P=0.48〕 and pelvic infection 〔OR=0.77, 95% CI is (0.52, 1.15), P=0.20〕 . In addition, compared to the trans-perineum drainage, the trans-abdominal drainage could shorten the time of pain in drainage 〔MD=–5.07, 95% CI is (–6.96, –3.17), P<0.000 01〕 . But, there was no significant difference in the duration of hospitalization 〔MD=0.82, 95% CI is (–0.39, 2.03), P=0.19〕 , incidence of anastomotic bleeding 〔OR=0.95, 95% CI is (0.58, 1.54), P=0.82〕 , and incidence of anastomotic leakage 〔OR=1.33, 95% CI is (0.93, 1.92), P=0.12〕 between the two groups. Conclusion The trans-abdominal drainage could obviously decrease the incidence of drainage tube incision infection and shorten the time of pain in drainage, so it may promote the postoperative rehabilitation of rectal cancer patients.