Aims Incentives represent a specific intervention to support smoking cessation and prevention. This paper aims at assessing the effectiveness of incentives. Methods The evidence is based on an overview of reviews. The methodological approach involved a systematic literature search in 8 databases and a quality assessment of the systematic reviews. Results 17 systematic reviews fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Incentives have positive effects on smoking cessation ( particularly for pregnant women and women post partum), effects decreased once incentives were suspended, though. There is no evidence that incentives have a preventive effect on children and adolescents. Conclusions Effective smoking restriction necessitates concerted actions combining incentives for individuals and preventive measures on the policy-level.