Introduction: in collaboration with the family physician, primary care nurses can play a key role for persons with chronic diseases (CD). However, these activities vary from one practice to another. Context: the absence of evidence hinders our understanding of the issues related to the improvement of nursing practices in primary care organizations. Objective: to describe the primary care nurse’s activities for persons with CD and elements influencing those activities. Design: a systematic literature review. Method: MEDLINE, CINHAL and SCOPUS electronic databases were reviewed. Key words searched for: “primary healthcare,” “primary nursing,” and “chronic disease.” Results: eighteen studies were included in the review. Nurses’ activities can be grouped into four domains of activity: 1) global assessment of the person with CD, 2) care management, 3) health promotion and 4) nurse-physician collaboration. Elements influencing nurses’ activities can be related to the setting of care, to the nurse, or to the person with CD. Discussion: nurses’ activities in primary care are understudied. Activities such as case management and interprofessional collaboration are lacking. Conclusion: descriptive studies are needed to facilitate a more in-depth description of nurses’ activities in primary settings for persons with CD.