Objective To systematically review the association between ALDH2 polymorphism and ischemic stroke. Methods Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI, CBM and WanFang data were searched to collect case-control studies about the association between ALDH2 polymorphism and ischemic stroke from the inception to October 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 12.0 software. Results A total of seven case-control studies were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the A allele and AA genotype in ALDH2 was associated with the risk of ischemic stroke (Avs. G: OR=1.430, 95%CI 1.006 to 2.033,P=0.046; AAvs. AG+GG: OR=1.734, 95%CI 1.267 to 2.373,P=0.001; AAvs. GG: OR=1.757, 95%CI 1.274 to 2.424,P=0.001). Conclusion ALDH2 gene polymorphism may related to ischemic stroke for Chinese and A allele of ALDH2 may be the risk factors.