Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, increasing mortality, complications, and length of hospital stay. A systematic review and meta-analysis included 17 studies with 33,809 patients, searching PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases until September 20, 2025. The main risk factors for AKI after CABG are older age (OR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.03–1.08), prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass (OR = 1.14, 95% CI 1.06–1.22), diabetes (OR = 1.29, 95% CI incompletely reported), intra-aortic balloon pump (OR = 3.19, 95% CI 1.74–5.85) and red blood cell transfusion (OR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.25–2.38). The analysis used random effects models, the I² statistic for heterogeneity, and Egger's test for publication bias. The prolonged duration of cardiopulmonary bypass and the intra-aortic balloon pump have the most significant impact. The study is registered under the identifier CRD420251144655.