Introduction: Surgical wound infections are a main cause of hospital associated infections in low income and the second most common cause in high income and resource rich countries. This review aiming at exploring epidemiology, bacteriology and risk factors associated with surgical wound infections. Methods: The systematic search was conducted in the Medline, Science direct, CINAHL databases using search terms of (Wound Infection OR Nosocomial Infections OR Surgical Wound) AND (Epidemiology OR Bacteriology OR Risk Factors). The relevant information was extracted from eligible studies. The irrelevant, duplicated studies were excluded. The findings of the included studies were summarized in a narrative manner. Results: Surgical wound infections have taken an alarming position as the third most common hospital acquired infection. SSIs continue to be a huge challenge to healthcare institutions where they add costly implications for surgery and health cost in general. Although gram-positive cocci hold the greater guilt for SSIs, there is an increased risk of SSIs from gram-negative bacilli after GI tract surgical procedures. Conclusions: Detecting risk factors preoperatively, classifying patient's risk and using a multidisciplinary approach, all are of great importance to determine the appropriateness of the surgical procedure, designing a tailored education session for the patient on the risk of possible complications, and last but not least, determining an effective plan for expected postoperative complications.