Xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XPA) participates in modulating recognition of DNA damage during the DNA nucleotide excision repair process. The XPA A23G polymorphism has been investigated in case-control studies to evaluate the cancer risk attributed to the variant, but the results were conflicting. To clarify the effect of XPA A23G polymorphism in cancer risk, we conducted a meta-analysis that included 30 published case-control studies. Overall, no significant association of XPA A23G variant with cancer susceptibility was observed for any genetic model. However, significant association was observed for colorectal cancer (GG vs. AA: OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.15-2.44; dominant genetic model GG + AG vs. AA: OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.08-1.17), for breast cancer an increased but non-significant risk was found (GG vs. AA: OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 0.98-1.66; dominant genetic model GG + AG vs. AA: OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 0.99-1.63), and for head and neck cancer an increased risk was observed in recessive model (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.02-1.38), whereas for lung cancer a significant reduced risk was observed (GG vs. AA: OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.66–0.90; dominant genetic model GG + AG vs. AA: OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.66-0.87), it’s noting that in Asian population the inverse association was more apparent. In addition, in Asian population for esophageal cancer a significant decreased risk was also found in dominant genetic model (OR = 0.55; 95% CI = 0.43-0.70) and for head and neck cancer an increased risk was observed in dominant genetic model (OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.03-2.23). The meta-analysis suggested that the XPA A23G G allele is a low-penetrant risk factor for cancer development.