Introduction: Work overload, insufficient resources and precarious conditions force the nurse to provide care in a hurry on many occasions, due to the fact that she or he must distribute their time among the multiple activities of the service. Promoting commitment among nurses implies a high sense of physical, cognitive and emotional connection with the quality of patient care and contribute to the achievement of institutional objectives. Objective: To analyze the scientific evidence related to commitment in nursing care. Methods: Systematic review of the literature from July to September 2020. Articles were searched in the following databases: Wiley Online Library, Pubmed, DOAJ, SciELO, Elsevier, Sage Journals, Proquest and Lilacs. Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), as well as the combination of the Boolean operators OR and, were used. Full texts published in English, Portuguese and Spanish between 2010 and 2020 were considered and processed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses methodology. Twenty-seven articles were selected. Conclusions: Commitment appears in the nurse as a result of several factors, including vocation, autonomy, confidence, social support, age, work environment, type of schedule, and critical reflection; these influence, positively or negatively, performance, work capacity, satisfaction and, above all, the quality of provided care.