OBJECTIVES: : Access to medicines (ATM) is a key component in enabling and measuring the performance of health systems. This study aims to determine, through a systematic literature review, the profile of studies and the results of ATM's indicators in Brazil, according with the dimensions of access proposed by Penchansky and Thomas METHODS: A systematic review of observational studies was performed using articles located in PUBMED, CENTRAL, LILACS and Essential Medicines and Health Products Information Portal (WHO) databases (accessed July 2014), in manual search and in grey literature. The methodological quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies of NIH (National Institute of Health - USA). RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: Most of ATM studies in Brazil evaluated it in the public sector, assessing essential drugs and using as a data source the users. The studies had focus on availability and no studies have assessed all dimensions of ATM. The access level was variable between studies. This review raises the need to develop a guideline to evaluate ATM that foment comparisons and evaluations of the health systems performance through the time.