Emerging evidence has demonstrated that androgen receptor (AR) is a promising therapeutic target for bladder cancer. However, the relationship between AR expression and its clinical significance remains controversial. The present in-depth meta-analysis aimed to investigate the correlation between AR expression and clinicopathological features, as well as prognostic value in bladder cancer. A systematic search was performed from PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Embase and the Cochrane Central Search Library by January 2017. The correlation between AR expression and tumor stage, tumor grade, recurrence free survival and progression free survival for patients with bladder cancer was evaluated. A total of 12 relevant studies with 1,652 patient samples were included. AR expression positively correlated with low tumor grade [odds ratio (OR), 1.95; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.36-2.81], low tumor stage (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.02-4.16) and low recurrence rate [hazard ratio (HR), 0.48; 95% CI, 0.31-0.75] in Caucasian patients. While, its expression had no significant impact on cancer susceptibility (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 0.19-13.72; P=0.44) and progression-free survival (HR, 1.20; 95% CI, 0.86-1.66; P=0.77). The present meta-analysis indicated that AR expression correlates with tumor grade, clinical stage and recurrence rates in the specified population and classification system. Further studies are required to determine the precise role of AR in bladder cancer.