Objective: To compare the therapeutic efficacies between radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and hepatic resection for solitary colorectal liver metastasis. Methods: The controlled clinical trials concerning RFA and hepatic resection for treatment of solitary colorectal liver metastasis were collected through literature retrieval from several native and foreign online databases. The quality of the include studies was assessed according to the Cochrane systematic review method, and data analysis was conducted by using RevMan 5.0 software. Results: Nine studies were finally included, with a total of 1 259 patients, of whom, 440 cases underwent RFA and 819 cases were subjected to surgical resection. The results of Meta-analysis demonstrated that the 5-year overall survival rate was lower, and the overall recurrence and local recurrence rate was higher in patients undergoing RFA than that in patients receiving surgical resection (P=0.02, P=0.01, P=0.003); there was no obvious difference in 5-year overall survival rate after operation between patients undergoing RFA and hepatic resection when the tumor diameter was less than 3 cm (P=0.43). Conclusion: Hepatic resection has a better efficacy than that of RFA for solitary colorectal liver metastasis, but RFA could be considered when tumor diameter is less than 3 cm.