This systematic literature review aimed to examine the research published between 2006 and 2011 that investigated religious/spiritual coping (RSC) in female breast cancer patients and its effects in adaptation to the disease. The descriptive categories used were 'religious beliefs', 'spirituality', 'religiosity', 'religious experiences', 'religion', 'coping behavior', 'adjustment', 'breast cancer', 'religious coping' and 'spiritual coping' based on data from LILACS, Medline, PsychInfo and Web of Science. We highlight the superiority of the positive RSC over negative RSC. Three studies did not show any relation between positive RSC and physical and psychological well-being, whereas negative RSC was associated with worse psychological adjustment in five studies.