<b><i>Background:</i></b> Over the past decade, addiction medicine training curricula have been developed to prepare physicians to work with substance use disorder patients. This review paper aimed at (1) summarizing scientific publications that outline the content of addiction medicine curricula and (2) evaluating the evidence for efficacy for training in addiction medicine. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We carried out a literature search on articles about addiction medicine training initiatives across the world, using PubMed, PsychINFO and EMBASE with the following search terms ‘substance abuse, addiction medicine, education and training.' <b><i>Results:</i></b> We found 29 articles on addiction medicine curricula at various academic levels. Nine studies reported on the need for addiction medicine training, 9 described addiction medicine curricula at various academic levels, and 11 described efficacy on addiction medicine curricula. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Several key competences in addiction medicine were identified. Efficacy studies show that even short addiction medicine training programs can be effective in improving knowledge, skills and attitudes related to addiction medicine. A more uniform approach to addiction medicine training in terms of content and accreditation is discussed.