OBJECTIVE: Cancer is the 3rd cause of death in the Spanish kidney transplant population. The risk of developing a tumour is multifactorial. Improvements in follow-up and increased graft survival have led to an increase in the incidence of de novo tumours in these patients.MATERIAL AND METHODS: We have conducted a systematic review of articles published in online medical databases related to de novo tumours in kidney transplant recipients. We have evaluated the incidence of de novo neoplasms in patients who underwent a kidney transplant at the Hospital Universitario de Cruces from January 2011 to December 2018. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Different characteristics have been described within the transplanted population that could promote the development of tumours. The alteration of the antitumor response, the altered ability to respond to infections, drug´s carcinogenic effect, and a greater susceptibility ultraviolet rays damage are some of the most repeated. As a consequence, overall risk of cancer increases two to three times in the transplanted population. Overall, in our analysis, the neoplasms that showed the highest incidence were urological (21.98%), followed by haematological (16.63%) and digestive tract (14.58%).CONCLUSION: There is a higher incidence and risk of de novo tumour development in the kidney transplant population, which probably requires optimizing patient follow-up and developing more precise screening strategies that can be modified depending on geographic and individual variations, to reduce the impact on survival that it may have on our patients.