Objective To systematically assess the risk factors for pulmonary infection(PI) following hepatectomy. Methods The published literatures concerning risk factors for PI following hepatectomy from the establishment of database to May 2018 were retrieved from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP database (VIP), Wanfang database(Wanfang), Baidu Academic, and PubMed. Literatures were screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, Meta-analysis was performed by RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of 9 case-control studies were included, 7 and 2 were domestic and foreign literatures respectively, 383 and 2 030 were in case group and control group respectively. Meta-analysis showed that the major risk factors for PI in patients following hepatectomy were old age, obesity, history of smoking, history of cerebrovascular accident, long duration of operation (>3 hours), large amount of bleeding during operation(>1 000 mL), intraoperative blood transfusion, without prophylactic use of antimicrobial agents, long duration of indwelling abdominal drainage tube(>10 days), without using analgesic pump after operation, and use of ventilator after operation. The combined OR/MD values and 95%CI of each factor were 13.55(3.15, 23.94), 3.14(1.97, 5.01), 3.01(1.50, 6.07), 7.08(2.32, 21.57), 52.12(8.67, 95.58), 326.89(23.06, 630.71), 2.68(1.85, 3.89), 4.67(2.93, 7.45), 1.89(0.77, 3.01), 2.98(2.04, 4.35), and 8.58(4.30, 17.12) respectively. Conclusion Incidence of PI following hepatectomy can be reduced through taking corresponding preventive measures against the main risk factors and strengthening management of respiratory tract.