Mentoring programmes are one of the most often used policies to support beginning teachers, considering the high rates of attrition during their first few years of service. This systematic literature review explores the complexity of mentoring by analysing and contrasting the perspectives of mentors and mentees on this process in schools in different parts of the world. We use a thematic approach to examine 47 empirical papers published between 2008 and 2024. The results reveal themes that are highlighted by mentors and mentees: (a) expected characteristics of mentor and mentee, (b) knowledge and practices, (c) the need for support from school leaders and the community and (d) professional development in mentoring. Although mentoring has common purposes, there are differences that allow the conception of this process to be expanded to a situated practice in schools, that requires the support of school leaders and peers to enable advances in the sustained professional development of mentors and mentees.This paper seeks to use an international comparative perspective to contribute to the construction of a dynamic and multifaceted framework that can provide useful information for diverse mentoring programmes developed internationally and for future research in the area.