This article aimed to present a review of the literature regarding the outsourcing and precarization of university professors’ work in Brazil. The practice of outsourcing in higher education had been carried out illegally in our country, however, this theme brings great political, social and educational repercussion after the approval of the bill, which authorizes outsourced work in all spheres, voted by the federal deputies in the March 22, 2017. Works over the last 10 years have been investigated in databases such as Scielo, Pepsic, LILACS. A total of 16 papers that dealt with the relationships between outsourcing and precariousness of the university professor have been selected. However, despite the scarce literature, the studies emphasized relevant aspects because they unanimously evidence that this practice promotes discouragement, demotivation, devaluation, accumulation of functions, and several factors which contribute to illness. Therefore, it is essential that this theme be carried forward in later studies which offer a better understanding of this type of contract model of teaching activities and their respective impairments in working relations and conditions, quality of life, mental health and in the teaching-learning process.