Objective To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Octreotide combined with Ulinastatin for treating acute pancreatitis in China. Methods The databases such as CBM, VIP, CNKI and WanFang Data were searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from the date of their establishment to February 2011, and the relevant references of the included studies were also retrieved. Studie were screened, data were extracted, and the methodological quality was assessed by two reviewers independently. Meta-analyses were conducted by using RevMan 5.1 software. Results A total of 12 studies involving 1 023 participants were included. The results showed that compared with the group of routine therapies and the group of single administration of either Octreotide or Ulinastatin, the experimental group of Octreotide combined with Ulinastatin was superior in the following aspects with singnificant differences: the total effective rate (RR= 0.34, 95%CI 0.23 to 0.52), the remission time of abdominal pain and distention (SMD= –0.89, 95%CI –1.09 to –0.70), the remission time of signs of abdominal tenderness (SMD= –0.95, 95%CI –1.48 to –0.42), the average length of hospital stay (SMD= –1.10, 95%CI –1.58 to –0.63), the time for blood amylase returning to normal (SMD= –1.14, 95%CI –2.10 to –0.17) and the positive cases at the end of treatment (RR= 0.20, 95%CI 0.08 to 0.51), the time for urine amylase returning to normal (SMD= –0.86, 95%CI –1.04 to –0.68) and the positive cases at the end of treatment (RR= 0.27, 95%CI 0.12 to 0.63), the IL-6 level at the end of treatment (SMD= –2.25, 95%CI –4.39 to –0.11), the incidence rate of complications (RR= 0.39, 95%CI 0.28 to 0.55), the required rate of operation (RR= 0.41, 95%CI 0.24 to 0.69), and the mortality (RR= 0.43, 95%CI 0.29 to 0.64). But the experimental group showed a little longer time for blood calcium returning to normal without statistic difference (MD =0.15, 95%CI 0.05 to 0.26).Conclusion According to the domestic evidence, Octreotide combined with Ulinastatin for treating acute pancreatitis is superior to both the routine therapies and the singe administration of either Octreotide or Ulinastatin. It provides a new and prospective therapeutic method for AP. However, this conclusion has to be further verified by high quality, large scale and double blinded RCTs.