Sleep duration has been suggested to play a key role in the development of metabolic syndrome (MS). However, the results have been inconsistent. The objective of this study was to clarify the association between sleep duration and MS risk. PubMed and Embase databases were searched for eligible publications. Pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated using random- or fixed-model. A total of 12 studies (18,720 MS cases and 70,833 controls) were included in the meta-analysis. Short sleep duration was significantly associated with increased risk of MS (OR = 1.27, 95%CI = 1.09–1.47, p = 0.002). Long sleep duration was not associated with increased risk of MS (OR = 1.07, 95%CI = 0.87–1.32, p = 0.535). Similar results were found in both men and women. The sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability of the results and no publication bias was detected. The present meta-analysis suggests that short rather than long sleep duration is significantly associated with risk of MS. Large-scale well-design prospective studies are required to further investigate the association between sleep duration and MS risk.