Objective: to assess the clinical efficacy of Er:YAG laser compared with traditional scaling and root planing (SRP) in the treatment of chronic periodontitis (CP) by evidence-based medicine. Methods: Electronic databases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP data and Wanfang data were searched to collect literatures which are randomized controlled trials of Er:YAG laser and SRP alone for the treatment of CP from establishment to September 2018. Two researchers independently screened the literature, quality evaluation and data extraction in accordance with inclusion and exclusion criteria, and Revman5.3.3 software was applied for statistical analysis. Results: a total of 11 RCTs were included. The meta results showed no significant difference in periodontal probing depth (PPD) between the Er:YAG laser and the SRP alone［MD＝0.05, 95% CI(-0.01, 0.12), P＝0.12), and clinical attachment loss (CAL), SRP group was superior to Er:YAG laser group ［MD＝0.13, 95% CI(0.02,0.24), P＝0.02］, 3 months after treatment. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups after 6 months. Conclusion: the existing evidence shows that Er:YAG laser has no obvious therapeutic advantage compared with traditional SRP in short-term and medium-term clinical efficacy.