Objective This study was conducted to evaluate and analyze the clinical effect between subtotal stomach-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy (SSPPD) and pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy (PPPD), especially compare the incidences of delayed gastric emptying (DGE) between them. Methods The documents about SSPPD and PPPD were searched in Cochrane Library, PubMed database, Embase database, Web of Science, Chinese biomedicine database, CNKI database, VIP database, and WanFang database. The quality of included studies was assessed according to the Cochrane systematic review methods, and statistical analysis of data was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software. Firstly, comparison of incidence of DGE and other effective indexes between SSPPD group and PPPD group was performed by enrolling all included studies, whether met the DGE standards of International Study Group of Pancreatic Surgery (ISGPS) or not, and then comparison of incidence of DGE and clinical DGE was performed by enrolling included studies that met the DGE standards of ISGPS. Results Ten studies were included, with a total of 804 patients, in which, 433 cases underwent SSPPD and 371 cases underwent PPPD. The results of meta-analysis indicated that, in all the included studies, the total incidence of DGE〔OR = 0.33, 95%CI is (0.17, 0.63),P = 0.000 9〕, and the time of nasogastric tube〔MD = –2.65，95%CI is (–4.49, –0.80),P = 0.005〕, and time of stared liquid diet〔MD = –4.13, 95%CI is (–7.35, –0.91),P = 0.01〕 showed significant differences. The total incidence of DGE, the time of nasogastric tube, and time of stared liquid diet were less in SSPPD group. But there was no significant difference between the SSPPD group and PPPD group in operating time, intraoperative blood loss, time of started solid diet, hospital stay, and incidences of reinsertion of nasogastric tube, pancreatic fistula, intra-abdominal abscess, reoperation, wound infection, postoperative hemorrhage, and mortality (P>0.05). In the 8 studies adopted DGE standard of ISGPS, the total incidence of DGE〔OR = 0.31, 95%CI is (0.15, 0.65)，P = 0.002〕 and incidence of clinical DGE 〔OR = 0.13，95%CI is (0.05, 0.40),P = 0.000 3〕showed significant differences. The total incidence of DGE and incidence of clinical DGE were both lower in SSPPD group. Conclusions Compared with PPPD group, SSPPD group was associated with significantly less incidence of DGE. Meanwhile, the time of the nasogastric tube and started liquid diet are shorter than those of SSPPD. And there is no significant difference in the other aspects.