Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality （VR） technology in cardiac rehabilitation. Methods Embase, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, WanFang Data and CNKI databases were systematically searched for randomized controlled trials comparing VR technology based cardiac rehabilitation and traditional cardiac rehabilitation, from database inception to 19 November 2021. Two researchers independently screened and extracted the literature, then evaluated quality of the included studies. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan5.4. Results Twelve studies with 597 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that VR technology was more powerful in alleviating depression［SMD=-0.57，95%CI（-0.88，-0.26），P＜0.05］, anxiety［SMD=-0.38，95%CI（-0.69，-0.07），P＜0.05］, and stress ［SMD=-0.76，95%CI（-1.08，-0.45），P＜0.05］, as well as improving patient satisfaction ［SMD=0.55，95%CI（0.24，0.86），P＜0.05］ compared to traditional cardiac rehabilitation. There was no significant difference in patient compliance between VR and traditional cardiac rehabilitation［OR=0.86, 95%CI（0.08, 8.37）, P=0.86］. Conclusion VR technology applied in cardiac rehabilitation can effectively improve patient′s mental state and satisfaction, but there is no strong evidence on improving cardiac function and patient compliance. Due to limited studies and quality of the included studies, the conclusions need to be verified by more high-quality studies.