Medical surveillance is one of the primary instruments in occupational health activities and is considered essential to maintain employees' good health. However, the efficacy of medical surveillance has not been sufficiently tested. The aim of this review was to evaluate the usefulness of medical surveillance, using available literature on Pubmed for the period 2005 to 2014. Although on the basis of a small number of studies, our conclusion is that medical surveillance could be considered effective. Apart from the case of occupational asthma, it must be emphasised that the number of evaluation studies is small, especially in some areas, as well as the one of biomechanical overload.