The present review deals with naturally-occurring and synthetic chalcones, focusing on their promising results against leishmaniasis, which is considered one of the most important growing public health problem, especially in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Chalcones have demonstrated important pharmacological properties against a variety of pathologies and some of them, studied by the authors, have exhibited pronounced effects against Leishmania parasites and are potentially useful for the development of better and more potent antileishmanial agents, considering also their low cost and relatively low toxicity.