Introduction: Intellectual disabilities can not only affect children, but they also have impacts on family members. The purpose of this study was to compare the quality of life and marital satisfaction in mothers of mentally retarded and normal children in Iran using a systematic review method. Objective: The purpose of this review study was to investigate articles on quality of life and marital satisfaction in mothers of children with mental retardation and those of normal children in Iran. Methodology: To this end,articles indexed in Directory of Open Access Journals Magiran, Google Scholar, PubMed, Library, Information, Irandoc, Scopus, SID and Web of Science were searched. Results: The range of physical and behavioral problems in children with intellectual disabilities, quality of life, and marital satisfaction were found to affect mentally retarded children and their family members especially mothers. Mental and emotional stress in mothers resulting from presence of such children, allocation of more time to provide care for these children, high financial pressures, limited family and social relationships, maternal anxiety caused by behavioral problems in such children, maternal sleep disorders, and poor self-efficacy were considered among factors that could directly or indirectly influence quality of life in mothers with mentally retarded children. Slow learning in such children, anxiety about their future, fears concerning probability of birth of another mentally retarded child, unwillingness to have sexual relationships, use of ineffective problem-solving methods by mothers, severity of disabilities, lack of supportive spouse as well as social support, negative parental approaches towards disabilities, along with high parental engagement and their inappropriate problem-solving strategies were also reported as the most significant factors affecting marital satisfaction in mothers of children with intellectual disabilities. Conclusion: Counseling and training sessions for mothers about parenting styles, stress-coping skills, attitude reform, avoiding extreme support for mothers’,problems, individual and parenting counseling on problem-solving issues and strategies to deal with stressful life issues, government funding, as well as support from different organizations were taken into account as the most important and essential ways to improve quality of life and marital satisfaction in mothers with mentally retarded children.