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Introduction: Leadership is a process that refers to the ability to influence employees, guide them and motivate them. The purpose of the article was to investigate the connection between the quality of nursing with leadership and leader characteristics of the nursing team.Methods: A descriptive method of work that was applied to conduct a systematic review of the literature in the databases Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and PubMed between 2018 and 2020 was used. The search strategy followed the PICO protocol. The search terms were: leader, leadership, leaders' competencies, quality indicators, health care, nursing leadership, patient outcomes, personnel management, outcome assessment, patient satisfaction. Results: 462 search results were identified of which 20 papers published between 2010 and 2020 were analyzed - ten were systematic literature reviews, nine were quantitative cross-sectional studies and one was experimental. Contributions were critically evaluated using JBI tools. The analysis identified 163 codes that were grouped into six categories: leadership styles in health care, characteristics of good health care leadership, efficiency of the nursing team, factors influencing nursing quality, nursing outcomes, outcomes of a negative work environment.Discussion and conclusion: In the clinical environment, the transformation leadership style is most frequently mentioned and recommended. In this style the leader focuses on employees and leadership is directed on relationships. A climate of trust is developed among employees, which affects employee satisfaction and, consequently, has a positive effect on the quality of nursing care.