PurposeAnticancer drug use at the end of life places potential extra burdens on patients and the healthcare system. Previous articles show variability in methods and outcomes; thus, their results are not directly comparable. This scoping review describes the methods and extent of anticancer drug use at end of life.MethodsSystematic searches in Medline and Embase were conducted to identify articles reporting anticancer drug use at the end of life.ResultsWe selected 341 eligible publications, identifying key study features including timing of research, disease status, treatment schedule, treatment type, and treatment characteristics. Among the subset of 69 articles of all cancer types published within the last 5 years, we examined the frequency of anticancer drug use across various end of life periods.ConclusionThis comprehensive description of publications on anticancer drug use at end of life underscores the importance of methodological factors when designing studies and comparing outcomes.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12094-023-03234-1.