Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of rifaximin in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Methods The computer system was used to retrieve PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang and Chongqing VIP databases, and the randomized controlled trials of rifaximin for IBS published before November 30, 2022 were retrieved. The data were meta-analysed using RevMan 5.1 and Stata 12.0 softwares. Results Finally, 8 studies including 5176 patients were included. Meta-analysis results showed that the overall effective rate [relative risk (RR)=1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.21, 1.62), P<0.00001], abdominal pain relief rate [RR=1.21, 95%CI (1.12, 1.32), P<0.00001], abdominal distension relief rate [RR=1.28, 95%CI (1.15, 1.41), P<0.00001], and stool character improvement rate [RR=1.20, 95%CI (1.10, 1.32), P<0.0001] of rifaximin in the treatment of IBS were better than those of the control group. There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions (P>0.05). Conclusion Rifaximin can effectively improve the abdominal pain, abdominal distension and stool characteristics of IBS patients, and it is safe and reliable.