OBJECTIVE: To address the following PICOS question: Can single-shade resin composites achieve a color match comparable to multi-shade composites in tooth restoration? MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted across multiple electronic databases to identify in vitro and clinical studies evaluating the color match in tooth restoration, in terms of CIELAB (ΔE RESULTS: After initial screening, 15 in vitro studies and 4 RCTs met the inclusion criteria for qualitative synthesis, with 8 in vitro studies selected for quantitative analysis. The majority of in vitro studies were classified as medium risk of bias, while RCTs were ranked as low risk of bias. Meta-analyses performed on in vitro studies revealed that single-shade composites exhibited statistically significant higher color differences with the surrounding tooth structure compared to multi-shade composites, for both ΔE CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review concluded that multi-shade composites provide a more accurate color match between tooth and direct restoration than single-shade materials when evaluated by instrumental analysis in laboratory settings. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Multi-shade composites exhibit superior color match properties in laboratory studies. However, single-shade composites are a promising alternative when observed visually in clinical settings.