ObjectiveTo investigate the distribution of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome types and syndrome elements of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). MethodsRelated databases (CNKI, Wanfang Dota, and VIP)were searched for articles on the syndrome differentiation of NAFLD published up to July 2020. Two investigators independently performed literature screening and collection and summarization of syndrome types based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and an Excel 2010 database was established after the standardization of syndrome names, re-decomposition of syndrome types, and extraction of syndrome elements. The data were imported into SPSS 25.0 statistical software for the analysis of frequency distribution. ResultsA total of 45 qualified articles were collected, with a total of 8703 cases reported. A total of 14 syndrome types were obtained after standardization, and 10 syndrome elements reflecting the nature of disease and 4 syndrome elements of disease location were obtained after the syndrome types were disassembled. Stagnation of liver Qi and spleen deficiency syndrome (26.47%) and damp-heat accumulation syndrome (22.16%) were the most common syndrome types, followed by stagnation of phlegm dampness, intermingled phlegm and blood stasis, and stagnation of liver Qi and Qi stagnation. Dampness (23.75%), Qi stagnation (19.82%), Qi deficiency (17.12%), phlegm (15.43%), and heat (12.13%) were the most common syndrome elements reflecting the nature of disease, followed by stasis, Yin deficiency, and Yang deficiency, while fire and cold were relatively uncommon. Qi stagnation and Qi deficiency (26.63%), dampness and heat (22.30%), phlegm and dampness (16.17%), and phlegm and stasis (12.19%) were the most common combinations of syndrome elements. The liver and the spleen were the most common syndrome elements of disease location, accounting for 90.95% of the constituent ratio, and the combination of the liver and the spleen with the same disease accounted for 54.01%. The combination of one, two, three, or four syndrome elements was observed, and the combination of two syndrome elements accounted for 76.03%. ConclusionStagnation of liver Qi and spleen deficiency are the basic pathogeneses of NAFLD, and liver, spleen, dampness, Qi stagnation, Qi deficiency, phlegm, and heat are common syndrome elements. Dampness, phlegm, and heat are important factors for the development and progression of this disease.