Kidney diseases have recently become one of the major global health problems with high incidence and death risk. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are released from most cell types and human body fluids, have recently attracted extensive attention as the important carriers of protective cargos such as microRNAs and proteins that may contribute to promoted renal function. Therefore, we conducted this systematic review to investigate the renoprotective potential of EVs. We performed a comprehensive search of Medline (via PubMed), Embase, Cochrane and Proquest on August, 2019 for English papers. Of 2887 articles met the search criteria, 80 included in this systematic review and classified into several groups based on source of EVs. We then evaluated the EV research through screening their isolation method, size, marker, main effector, and potential mechanisms to induce renal protection. Taken together, EVs from various sources including mesenchymal stem cells, human liver stem cells, endothelial progenitor cells, endothelial colony-forming cells, serum and some other sources might have positive impacts on treatment of human kidney diseases in the future.