About one-third of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients still require surgery. A growing number of them receive anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy before surgery. The present meta-analysis studied the risk of postoperative complications in IBD patients treated with anti-TNF. MEDLINE was searched (up to January 2012) to identify observational studies reporting the prevalence of postoperative complications in IBD patients. The prevalence of overall, infectious, and non-infectious postoperative complications was extracted for all studies, and according to preoperative anti-TNF treatment where reported. Pooled prevalence, as well as odds ratios (ORs), with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was calculated. The search identified 86 citations. Twenty-one studies, containing 4251 subjects, reported the prevalence of postoperative complications according to preoperative anti-TNF treatment. Pooled prevalence of any postoperative complication was 21%, 35%, and 26% in Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or inflammatory bowel disease unspecified (IBD-U) and IBD, respectively. The prevalence of any postoperative complication was increased in IBD patients who underwent preoperative anti-TNF therapy (OR: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.02–1.53). Pooled prevalence of infectious postoperative complications was 16%, 17%, and 15% in CD, UC/IBD-U and IBD, respectively. The prevalence of infectious postoperative complications was increased in CD patients who underwent preoperative anti-TNF therapy (OR: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.03–2.05). The confounding effect of concomitant therapies could not be studied. Preoperative anti-TNF use slightly increases the occurrence of overall postoperative complications in IBD patients, and particularly infectious complications in CD patients. Postoperative complications are not increased in UC.