Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with thermotherapy for primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC), and to provide references for clinical practice and research. Methods The following databases as The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were searched electronically, and the other sources as supplying, such as tracing related references, were also retrieved. Besides, some unknown information was also obtained by communicating with other authors. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on TACE combined with thermotherapy versus TACE alone were collected. The literature was screened according to inclusive criteria, data were extracted and the quality of included studies was assessed, and then meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.1 software. Results A total of 17 RCTs with 907 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that compared with TACE alone, TACE combined with thermotherapy had a significant difference in 1-year survival rate (HR=2.40, 95%CI 1.65 to 3.48, Plt;0.000 01), 2-year survival rate (HR=3.28, 95%CI 1.87 to 5.76, Plt;0.000 1), total effective rate (RR=1.59, 95%CI 1.42 to 1.79, Plt;0.000 1) and improvement rate of life quality (RR=1.79, 95%CI 1.42 to 2.25, Plt;0.000 1). The incidences of myelosuppression and alimentary canal reactions were lower in TACE combined with thermotherapy group than those in TACE alone group, but statistically significance was only found in myelosuppression (RR=0.79, 95%CI 0.69 to 0.92, P=0.001). Conclusion Compared with TACE alone, TACE combined with thermotherapy can improve long-term survival rate and short-term curative effect, ameliorate the quality of life, and tend to reduce the incidence rate of side effects. But its long-term curative effect and more comprehensive safety still needs to be further verified by more large sample and high quality RCTs.