Objective To explore the correlation between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease （NAFLD） and cognitive impairment. Methods The research on the correlation between NAFLD and cognitive impairment was searched on China National Knowledge Infrastructure， WanFang Data， VIP， China Biology Medicine， PubMed， Web of Science， Embase， and Cochrane Library. This study screened and evaluated literature according to inclusion criteria， and extracted data. Meta-analysis was performed using StatMP 17 software. Results A total of 13 articles were included， with a total of 73 219 patients. The meta-analysis showed a correlation between NAFLD and cognitive impairment with a statistically significant ［OR=1.49， 95%CI （1.16， 1.92）， P ＜ 0.05］. The subgroup analysis revealed that in cross-sectional studies ［OR=2.14， 95%CI （1.24， 3.67）， P＜ 0.05］， North America ［OR=1.61， 95%CI （1.32， 1.98）， P＜ 0.05］， imaging/pathological diagnostic methods ［OR=1.58， 95%CI （1.04， 2.41）， P＜ 0.05］， fatty liver index diagnostic methods ［OR=1.60， 95%CI （1.13， 2.26）， P＜ 0.05］， and Mini Mental State Examination ［OR=1.35， 95%CI （1.01， 1.82）， P＜ 0.05］ and patients with mild cognitive impairment ［OR=1.41， 95%CI （1.05， 1.90）， P ＜ 0.05］， NAFLD was positively correlated with cognitive impairment， and the differences were statistically significant. Conclusions NAFLD is related to cognitive impairment， which has guiding significance for effectively preventing and controlling cognitive dysfunction in NAFLD populations.