The implementation of exercise intervention (EI) presents a promising and economical way for patients with hip fracture. However, the optimal type of EI remains unclear. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of various EI approaches and identify the optimal intervention for improving the prognosis of patients with hip fracture. A comprehensive search of Medline (via PubMed), Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, CNKI, Wan Fang, VIP, and CBM was conducted from their earliest records to June 2022. The included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) included at least one type of exercise for patients with hip fracture. The methodological quality of these trials was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool. All direct and indirect comparisons were analyzed by Stata 14.0 and OpenBUGS 3.2.3 software. The primary outcome was hip function, and the secondary outcomes were activity of daily living (ADL), walking capacity and balance ability of patients. Based on the ranking probabilities, resistance exercise (RE) was ranked as the most effective among all exercise interventions (surface under cumulative ranking curve values [SUCRA]: 94.8%, [MD]: − 11.07, [Crl]: − 15.07 to − 7.08) in improving the efficacy of patients' hip function, followed by balance exercise (BE) ([SUCRA]:81.1%, [MD]: − 8.79, [Crl]: − 13.41 to − 4.18) and muscle strength exercise ([SUCRA]:57.6%, [MD]: − 5.35, [Crl]: − 9.70 to − 0.95). For the improvement of ADL for patients with hip fracture, BE ([SUCRA]:98.4%, [MD]: − 17.38, [Crl]: − 23.77 to − 11.04) may be the best EI. The findings of this study indicate that RE and BE might be the best approach to improve prognosis for patients with hip fracture. However, further rigorous and meticulously planned RCTs are required to substantiate the conclusions drawn from this study.