Studies have reported an association between the TERT rs2736098 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and cancer susceptibility, but the results remain inconclusive. Toprovide a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis of 8 published studies including 8,070 cases and 10,239 controls was performed. Stratification by sample size, genotyping method, source of controls and ethnicity were used to explore the source of heterogeneity. In the overall analysis, no significant association was found between the TERT rs2736098 polymorphism and cancer risk. However, the result showed the rs2736098 was significantly associated with an increased cancer risk and the heterogeneity was effectively decreased for homozygote comparison by removal of two studies: OR = 1.337 (95% CI = 1.183-1.511; Pheterogeneity = 0.087). In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, a significantly increased risk of cancers was found among Asians (OR = 1.413, 95% CI = 1.187-1.683 for AA versus GG). Our meta-analysis did not show that the TERT rs2736098 plays an important role in cancer risk. More studies with larger sample size and well-matched controls are needed to confirm the findings.