The application of controlled release urea has been recognized as an efficient measure to improve crop yieldrelative to conventional urea. However，the crucial factors influencing the crop yield response to controlled release urea relative toconventional urea are still unclear. In thisstudy，the response of crop yield to controlled release urea and thecrucial influencing factors were evaluated based on the collecteddata(494 pairwise observations for cropyield)with a Meta-analysis. Controlled release urea increased crop yield by 5.0% over conventional urea. According to subgroupanalysis，controlled release urea increased crop yield by 6.1% compared to conventional urea in loam texture soil，but did not affectcrop yield in sand(-0.1%)or clay(1.8%)texture soils. Controlled release urea showed a greater increase in crop yieldunder medium seasonrainfall(7.9%)，relative tolow(3.8%)and high seasonrainfalls(3.1%). Inaddition，the yieldresponse to controlled release urea increased with increasing soil pH and season meantemperature，whereas it graduallydecreased with increasing soil total nitrogen and nitrogen fertilizer rates.Moreover，the combined application of controlledrelease urea and conventionalurea(11.2%)，rainfed system(6.9%)，maize season(10.7%)，and controlled releaseurea broadcast+tillage(8.1%)greatly enhanced the yield response relative to the single application of controlled release urea(3.9%)，irrigatedsystem(3.1%)，wheat and riceseasons(0.6%-4.0%)，and other controlled release urea fertilizationmethods(3.3%-4.3%)(P<0.05)，respectively.Overall，the application of controlled release urea was a good option toenhance crop yield in agricultureproduction，and the site -specific environmental factors and management practices should be considered when applying controlled release urea to increase crop yield.