Drugs are essential to human health in various ways such as curing diseases and supplementing nutrients to the human body. Due to advances in synthetic science over the past decades, drugs are produced and consumed in large quantities every day. With the increasing global demand for drugs, growing concerns from various stakeholders have been directed towards the impact of pharmaceuticals on the environment and public health, which inevitably includes the associated environmental hazards of the use of chemicals during the synthesis of drugs. Synthetic chemicals are one of the prominent global change agents, and in particular, pharmaceuticals have been recently identified as emerging pollutants, while their occurrence in nature has led to serious implications for human health and environmental sustainability. Considering the impact of pharmaceutical pollution on environmental, social and economic contexts, recent studies have identified it as a challenge to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. These also explain why, in recent years, there have been growing studies examining drug regulations and investigating the implementation of sustainable chemistry and green practice in the pharmaceutical industry. Here, we present the findings of a systematic review on strategies which have been reported for the implementation of green chemistry principles in the pharmaceutical industry related to drug production. Searches were conducted in Web of Science (WoS), and a total of 41 studies have been identified and included in this review. Illustrating examples and recommendations on the development and promotion of green chemistry practice, as well as implications for a green pharmaceutical industry, are further discussed.