To evaluate the clinical importance of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) phosphorylated tau 181 (p-tau181) in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias, more specifically: frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), vascular dementia (VaD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) with dementia (PDD). Fifty eligible articles were identified by search of databases including PubMed, EMBASE, Elsevier, Springer Link and the Cochrane Library, up to December 2013. The random effects model was used to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD) with corresponding 95% CI by STATA 9.0 software. The subgroup analyses were made on the methods or PD with dementia. We found that CSF p-tau181 concentrations were significantly higher in AD compared to MCI [SMD: 0.61, 95% CI: (0.46, 0.76), z = 8.07, P < 0.001], FTD [SMD: 1.23, 95% CI: (0.89, 1.56), z = 7.19, P < 0.001], DLB [SMD: 1.08, 95% CI: (0.80, 1.37), z = 7.41, P < 0.001], PDD [SMD: 1.05, 95% CI: (0.02, 2.07), z = 2.00, P = 0.045] and VaD [SMD: 1.28, 95% CI: (0.68, 1.88), z = 4.19, P < 0.001]. Results from this meta-analysis implied that CSF p-tau181 is a good biomarker for discriminating Alzheimer's disease from other dementias and mild cognitive impairment.