Objective To assess the effectiveness and safety of high-dose chemotherapy assisted with autologous peripheral blood stem cell treatment (APBSCT+HDC) for small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Methods The databases such as MEDLINE (1970 to January 2011), EMBASE (1980 to January 2011), Science Direct (1980 to January 2011), The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2010), CNKI (from the date of establishment to December 2010), CBM (from the date of establishment to December 2010) and Wanfang database (from the date of establishment to December 2010) were searched for collecting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on APBSCT+HDC for SCLC. According to the inclusive and exclusive criteria, the trials were screened, the data were extracted, the methodological quality was assessed, and then Meta-analysis was conducted by using RevMan 5.0 software. Results A total of 6 RCTs involving 737 patients with SCLC were included. The results of Meta-analyses were as follows: the APBSCT+HDC for SCLC was significantly superior to the conventional chemotherapy in the total effective rate (RR=1.14, 95%CI 1.07 to 1.21, Plt;0.000 1) and the overall survival rate (RR=3.74, 95%CI 2.13 to 6.58, Plt;0.000 01), and it was superior in reducing the incidence of III/IV grade red blood cell reduction (RR=1.97, 95%CI 1.15 to 3.38, P=0.01) and thrombopenia (RR=1.93, 95%CI 1.06 to 3.54, P=0.03) with significant differences; but there was no significant difference between the two groups in reducing the incidence of III/IV leukopenia. Conclusions Compared with the conventional chemotherapy, APBSCT+HDC treatment for SCLC can improve the overall effective rate and overall survival rate, but it can also increase the risks of severe hematologic toxic reaction. Because of the small scale and low quality of the included studies, this conclusion still needs to be confirmed by high-quality, large-scale and multi-centered RCTs.