Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of antibiotic prophylactic regimens in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Methods: The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) concerning use of prophylactic antibiotics in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy publicly published between January 2003 and December 2013 were collected by searching the relevant online databases. After literature screening according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, data extraction and methodological quality evaluation, a Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2.10 software. Results: Nine RCTs were finally included, involving 2 316 patients with 1 165 cases in prophylactic group and 1 151 cases in control group. The results of Meta-analysis-based comparison between prophylactic group and control group showed no statistical difference (all P>0.05) in terms of the overall postoperative infection rate (RR=0.98, 95% CI=0.59–1.61), superficial incisional surgical site infection rate (RR=0.82, 95% CI=0.48–1.41) and positive rate of bile culture (RR=0.82, 95% CI=0.64–1.05), as well as no statistical difference in the overall postoperative infection rate and superficial incisional surgical site infection rate in the included RCTs that recruited patients with diabetes and biliary colic (both P>0.05). Conclusion: Antibiotics for prophylaxis cannot reduce the incidence of postoperative infection in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy, but this conclusion still needs to be proven by large sample and multicenter prospective RCTs.