Indigenous fruits constitute an important part in human diets in many sub-Saharan African countries, particularly in the rural areas and during droughts. In order to promote and expand the utilization of these fruits, knowledge on their nutritional composition is essential. This review presents the results of a literature research of the nutritional composition of 10 selected indigenous fruits from sub-Saharan Africa. Species were selected due to their current importance and future potential for nutrition, processing and cash income generation. Compositional data were compiled and mean values of components per species were calculated. Most papers were compiled for Adansonia digitata (26) and Dacryodes edulis (16), followed by Tamarindus indica (10), Balanites aegyptiaca (9), Sclerocarya birrea (9), Ziziphus mauritiana (9), Vitex doniana (7) and Irvingia gabonensis (5) and least for Uapaca kirkiana (3) and Syzygium guineense (3). Fruits were found to be mainly analysed for macronutrients and minerals. Vitamins – apart from vitamin C – were rarely reported. Substantial compositional differences were found among as well as within the different fruit species. The results of this study emphasize the need for generating more high quality data for a wider spectrum of components of the selected indigenous fruits in sub-Saharan Africa.