Objective To explore the intervention effect of exercise in the rehabilitation treatment of gastrointestinal cancer patients.Methods A prospective controlled trial of rehabilitation exercise intervention for gastrointestinal cancer patients was included by systematically searching Chinese and English databases(PubMed,Cochrane Library,Web of Science,CNKI,and Wanfang database).Revman 5.3 system evaluates 6-minute walking test(6MWT),walking time,hospital stay,feeding time,fatigue and defecation time,body mass index(BMI),and complications.Results After systematic retrieval and screening of literature,17 randomized controlled trial(RCT)studies with high quality were included in the qualitative synthesis,and 15 RCT studies were included quantitative synthesis.Meta-analysis results showed that rehabilitation exercise for patients with gastrointestinal cancer could effectively shorten the ambulation time(-12.72,95%CI:-15.14,-10.30),length of hospitalization time(-0.9,95%CI:-1.55,-0.24),eating time(-12.63,95%CI:-14.99,-10.27),time to exhaustion(-9.99,95%CI:-11.92,-8.06)and defecation time(-21.25,95%CI:-23.52,-18.97),and it had a positive effect on reducing postoperative complications(0.62,95%CI:0.47,0.82).However,the six-minute walking distance of rehabilitation exercise for patients with gastrointestinal cancer(13.89,95%CI:-25.97,53.68)and BMI(0.57,95%CI:-2.14,3.29)had no statistical significance(P>0.05).Conclusion Exercise intervention has a positive effect on postoperative recovery of patients with gastrointestinal tumors.