Purpose: To classify and identify the main characteristics of the tools used in practice to assess the impact of elderly caregiving on the informal carers' life. Methods A systematic review of literature was performed searching in Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, IBECS, LILACS, SiiS, SSCI and Cochrane Library from 2009 to 2013 in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, and in reference lists of included papers. Results The review included 79 studies, among them several in languages other than English.