Novel approaches to preterm births are underway building upon our prior discoveries and probing into unknown discovery pathways. The recent findings showed a high affinity of MMP-9 in serum and its polymorphisms for preterm birth. This study, which is a hospital-based case–control study, aims to investigate the association of MMP-1, MMP-8 and MMP-9 polymorphisms, and levels of MMP-9 in preterm birth. Increased level of MMP-9 was reported in cases as compared to control. The significant association of MMP-9 (-1562) CT (P = 0.001; OR = 1.44(CI = 0.97–2.14)) and TTgenotype (P = 0.05;OR = 2.6 (CI = 1.46–4.69)) were reported in preterm birth. Our findings suggest that the MMP-9 plays an important role in contributing preterm labour and this can be used as a diagnostic tool during pregnancy.