Using SuSE, with package xdevel-4.1.0-52 (that contains 
/usr/X11R6/include/X11/extensions/Xrender.h).

If I run configure without arguments or with --enable-xlib-xrender=no then I get
a build error:

 gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -I. -I../pixman/src
-I/usr/local/include/freetype2 -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/include
-I/usr/local/include/libpng12 -I/usr/X11R6/include -Wall -Wextra -Wsign-compare
-Werror-implicit-function-declaration -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings
-Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -Wnested-externs
-Wpacked -Wswitch-enum -Wmissing-format-attribute -Wstrict-aliasing=2
-Winit-self -Wunsafe-loop-optimizations -Wdeclaration-after-statement
-Wold-style-definition -Wno-missing-field-initializers -Wno-unused-parameter
-fno-strict-aliasing -g -O2 -MT cairo-xlib-surface.lo -MD -MP -MF
.deps/cairo-xlib-surface.Tpo -c cairo-xlib-surface.c  -fPIC -DPIC -o
.libs/cairo-xlib-surface.o
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_CAIRO_FORMAT_TO_XRENDER_FORMAT':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:196: error: 'PictStandardA1' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:196: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
cairo-xlib-surface.c:196: error: for each function it appears in.)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:198: error: 'PictStandardA8' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:200: error: 'PictStandardRGB24' undeclared (first use in
this function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:203: error: 'PictStandardARGB32' undeclared (first use in
this function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:194: warning: enumeration value 'CAIRO_FORMAT_RGB16_565'
not handled in switch
cairo-xlib-surface.c:205: error: implicit declaration of function
'XRenderFindStandardFormat'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:205: warning: nested extern declaration of
'XRenderFindStandardFormat'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:205: warning: return makes pointer from integer without a cast
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_cairo_xlib_surface_set_matrix':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:903: error: 'XTransform' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:903: error: expected ';' before 'xtransform'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:908: error: 'xtransform' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:922: error: expected '=', ',', ';', 'asm' or
'__attribute__' before 'identity'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:922: error: 'identity' undeclared (first use in this function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:934: error: implicit declaration of function
'XRenderSetPictureTransform'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:934: warning: nested extern declaration of
'XRenderSetPictureTransform'
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_cairo_xlib_surface_set_filter':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:958: error: 'FilterFast' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:961: error: 'FilterGood' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:964: error: 'FilterBest' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:967: error: 'FilterNearest' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:970: error: 'FilterBilinear' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:983: error: implicit declaration of function
'XRenderSetPictureFilter'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:983: warning: nested extern declaration of
'XRenderSetPictureFilter'
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_create_a8_picture':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1463: error: 'PictStandardA8' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1464: warning: passing argument 3 of 'XRenderCreatePicture'
makes pointer from integer without a cast
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_create_trapezoid_mask':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1488: error: 'XTrapezoid' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1488: error: 'offset_traps' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1489: warning: ISO C90 forbids mixed declarations and code
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1518: error: implicit declaration of function
'XRenderCompositeTrapezoids'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1518: warning: nested extern declaration of
'XRenderCompositeTrapezoids'
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_cairo_xlib_surface_composite_trapezoids':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1575: error: 'PictStandardA1' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1575: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer
without a cast
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1581: error: 'PictStandardA8' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1581: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer
without a cast
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1647: error: 'XTrapezoid' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1647: error: expected expression before ')' token
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_cairo_xlib_surface_create_internal':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1851: error: 'PictStandardA1' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:1851: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer
without a cast
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_cairo_xlib_surface_add_glyph':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2413: warning: enumeration value 'CAIRO_FORMAT_RGB16_565'
not handled in switch
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_cairo_xlib_surface_show_glyphs8':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2503: error: 'XGlyphElt8' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2503: error: 'elts' undeclared (first use in this function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2504: error: expected ';' before 'stack_elts'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2506: warning: ISO C90 forbids mixed declarations and code
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2515: error: 'stack_elts' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2539: error: implicit declaration of function
'XRenderCompositeText8'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2539: warning: nested extern declaration of
'XRenderCompositeText8'
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_cairo_xlib_surface_show_glyphs16':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2564: error: 'XGlyphElt16' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2564: error: 'elts' undeclared (first use in this function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2565: error: expected ';' before 'stack_elts'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2567: warning: ISO C90 forbids mixed declarations and code
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2576: error: 'stack_elts' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2600: error: implicit declaration of function
'XRenderCompositeText16'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2600: warning: nested extern declaration of
'XRenderCompositeText16'
cairo-xlib-surface.c: In function '_cairo_xlib_surface_show_glyphs32':
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2625: error: 'XGlyphElt32' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2625: error: 'elts' undeclared (first use in this function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2626: error: expected ';' before 'stack_elts'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2628: warning: ISO C90 forbids mixed declarations and code
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2637: error: 'stack_elts' undeclared (first use in this
function)
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2661: error: implicit declaration of function
'XRenderCompositeText32'
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2661: warning: nested extern declaration of
'XRenderCompositeText32'
cairo-xlib-surface.c: At top level:
cairo-xlib-surface.c:2013: error:
'EXT_cairo_xlib_surface_create_with_xrender_format' aliased to undefined symbol
'INT_cairo_xlib_surface_create_with_xrender_format'
make[3]: *** [cairo-xlib-surface.lo] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `.../cairo-1.2.6/src'

These symbols are defined in a later version of Xrender.h.
I think that the Xrender part should not use these symbol references if the
Xrender interface is too old and not built at all if I specify
--enable-xlib-xrender=no.

The only way to skip building that part of Cairo is to do
   ./configure --enable-xlib-xrender=no --enable-xlib=no

I'm not 100% sure if this is exactly the same problem as in bug 7424.