Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy (LNSRH) in treatment of early cervical cancer. Methods Such databases as CBM (1960 to September 2011), CENTRAL (1966 to September 2011), MEDLINE (1966 to September 2011), The Cochrane Library, EMbase (1974 to September 2011) and CNKI (1994 to September 2011) were searched on computer, and relevant magazines were also searched manually. Data were extracted and the quality was assessed after including studies according to exclusive criteria, then meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.1 software. Results Total 7 studies involving 506 cases were selected, of which 255 cases were in the LNSRH group and the other 251 cases were in the laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (LRH) group. There were no differences between the two groups in age, body mass index, clinical stage, pathological type and histological grade. The results of meta-analysis showed that: a) The operative time of LNSRH was longer than LRH, with significant difference (P=0.02). But there was no significant difference in intraoperative bleeding between the two groups (P=0.69); b) The length of dissected parametrium of LNSRH was shorter than LRH with significant difference (P=0.02). But there was no significant difference in the length of dissected vagina (P=0.69); and c) The functional recovery of the bladder in the LNSRH group was better than LRH (Plt;0.000 01). Conclusion LNSRH is safe and feasible in effectively alleviating the postoperative dysfunction of the bladder in early cervical cancer as well as in improving the quality of life for patients. It is regarded as a new model of operation. Because it has just been put into practice within a short time, and there is lack of multi-center, large-sample, prospective controlled studies at present, so its radical effectiveness, long-term recurrence rate, survival rate, etc. have not yet been confirmed. More high quality studies are needed to provide important data of comparison between LNSRH and LRH.