The Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy aims to reduce disease and mortality among children under five years of age through the implementation of actions aimed at providing adequate care at the medical, home and community levels. The objective was to identify and classify the reports that have been published regarding the application of key practices and the knowledge that mothers and caregivers have regarding the IMCI strategy in the world. To this end, national and international publications were collected which were written in English or Spanish and registered in databases or information sources such as Scielo, Bireme, Pubmed, Google Scholar and academic theses. The evidence levels of most papers were VII and VIII because they were case, controls and descriptive studies. The studies on maternal knowledge showed the shortcomings of parents and/or caregivers of children under five years of age concerning the actions and strategies that should be applied to appropriately manage prevalent diseases. Regarding key practices, the studies considered in this literature review are consistent in demonstrating their effectiveness in improving the health and welfare conditions among children under five years of age, on whom they are applied. The studies also agree on the importance of advancing educational processes which strengthen the knowledge and application of the key practices as well as the strategy in general, for both communities and healthcare professionals.