Objective To extract and summarize the best evidence on early rehabilitation exercise for patients with cardiac surgery in ICU, and to provide evidence for implement of early rehabilitation in such patients. Methods Computer-aided search was conducted in such databases as Medline, Up To Date, PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, JBI Evidence-Based Practice database,Wanfang, CNKI and Medlive, to retrieve clinical guidelines, expert consensus reports, best evidence summary reports, and systematic reviews, etc. Two researchers evaluated the quality of the included literature and extracted the evidence. Results A total of 12 publications were included.A tally of 34 pieces of evidence, which were categorized into such 8 aspects, as establishing a multidisciplinary team, pre-rehabilitation assessment, formulating rehabilitation plans, setting early cardiac rehabilitation plans, dynamic eva-luation of rehabilitation process, post-rehabilitation assessment, psychological intervention and health education, were summarized. Conclusion The summarized evidence could serve as references for clinical staff to formulate early rehabilitation plans for ICU patients after cardiac surgery.It is suggested that the transformation of evidence should be based on China′s medical service culture and the sites for evidence application, as well as the needs and preferences of patients.