BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered a preclinical or prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). MCI patients have an annual probability of progression to dementia of 10%-15%, far higher than the normal elderly (∼1%-2%). We conducted a network meta-analysis (NMA) on the efficacy of various exercise modes on MCI adults. METHODS: A computer search was conducted in Embase, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science for RCTs on the effects of exercise training on MCI patients from their inception to February 22, 2025. Two reviewers were independently responsible for study screening, data extraction, and quality assessment. RevMan 5.4, Stata15, and R4.4.1 were utilized for data analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-five studies with 2717 patients were included. The NMA results revealed that combination training (CT) performed best in increasing the MoCA and MMSE scores of MCI patients, with SUCRA of 99.43% and 87.04%, respectively. Resistance training and sensorimotor training were the second-best interventions for increasing MMSE and MoCA scores, respectively. CONCLUSION: CT is the best intervention to improve MOCA and MMSE scores in patients with MCI, which can effectively alleviate the disease progression of MCI. However, a variety of double-blind, large-sample clinical trials are still needed to further verify this conclusion.