Due to the lack of studies with a regional focus on the richness and distribution of the fauna of chiropterans in northeastern Brazil, this paper presents a collection of these data gathered in an extensive literature review. The data analyzed include technical reports of environment consulting agencies, abstracts presented in scientific meetings, monographs, dissertations, theses, papers, scientific notes, short communications, book chapters and books on bats of South America, Brazil and the biomes Amazon, Caatinga, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. The numbers of municipalities surveyed per biome and the localities, municipalities and species richness for each state and biome in northeastern Brazil were determined. This information indicated the regions lacking more consistent Chiroptera sampling efforts, namely large areas in the Amazon, Caatinga and Cerrado. However, bat surveys in Atlantic Forest environments in most northeastern Brazilian states were considered representative. Although bat populations in some states have been poorly surveyed, the results of this review afford to conclude that a large part of the diversity of bat species known in Brazil has been reported for the northeastern region of the country. This review enlarges the knowledge on bat species richness and distribution in northeastern Brazil, and indicates areas suffering from wide survey gaps.