Background: negative symptoms of schizophrenia represent a major diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. They are often the first symptoms of the disease, but they are rarely the reason for seeking initial medical attention. Negative symptoms are one of the key factors determining functional outcome and leading to disability. The purpose of this review is to provide up-to-date information on the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, their clinical manifestations and methods of assessment. This information can be useful for clinicians and researchers who work with patients with schizophrenic disorders. Materials and methods: the following resources were used to search for literary sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/, https://scholar.google.ru/, https://cyberleninka.ru/. The number of sources cited is 28. Results: the development of modern assessment methods allows researchers to look at negative symptoms in a new way. It is now accepted that negative symptoms represent a two-factor model of impairment or absence of functions associated with motivation and verbal / emotional expression. Conclusion: this article is a systematic analysis of the scientific medical literature regarding negative symptoms in schizophrenia.