Psychological resilience is comprised of an adaptive functioning standard before the current and accumulated risks of life. Furthermore, it has a comprehensive range of psychological resources which are essential to overcome adversities, such as personal competences, self-beliefs and interpersonal control which interact with the social networks support. The objectives are to show the concepts of psychological resilience in elderly, relative to dominant theoretical models and the main data about psychological resilience in aging, found in an international and Brazilian review from 2007 to 2013. The descriptors "resilience, psychological resilience and aging", "resiliência e envelhecimento, velhice e velho", were used in PubMed, PsychInfo, SciELO and Pepsic databases. Fifty three international and eleven national articles were selected. The international articles were classified in four categories: psychological and social coping resources, emotional regulation before stressing experiences, successful resilience and aging and correlates, and resilience measures. The Brazilian articles were grouped in three: psychological and social resources, resilience in carers and theory review. Articles on psychological resources and on emotional regulation prevailed as key factors associated with psychological resilience in aging.
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