Objective: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a kind of neuroelectrophysiological technique that can interfere the function of human brain noninvasively. Studies from recent years show that rTMS has made much progression in the treatment of depression, which makes this technique a prospective therapy for depression. However, the differences in patients' factors, stimulation and stimulation parameters influence the therapeutic effects at different degrees, which will be reviewed in the following study. Data sources: English-language studies about rTMS therapy and depression between January 1990 and October 2004 were searched for in Medline database by using the key words of "repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, depression". Study selection: After primary examination, the randomized and double-blind controlled trials were selected, excluding the obvious non-randomized or non-controlled clinical studies. Data extraction: Totally 31 relevant literatures were collected. Of the 31 literatures, 20 studies were according with the selection criteria for data and 11 were excluded because of case-report or review (9 articles) and Meta analytic studies(2 articels). Data synthesis: rTMS improved depressive symptoms in 348 patients with depression and was ineffective on 26 patients reported by the 20 articles. Conclusion: rTMS is an effective treatment tool for depression, and proper patients' factors, stimulation positions and parameters can increase the clinical efficacy of rTMS.