Serbian literature (Serbian Cyrillic: Српска књижевност, Srpska književnost), refers to literature written in Serbian and/or in Serbia and all other lands where Serbs reside.

The history of Serbian literature begins with the independent works from the Nemanjić dynasty era, if not before. With the fall of Serbia and neighboring countries in the 15th century, there is a gap in the literary history in the occupied land. Serbian literature, however, continued uninterrupted in Serbian-inhabited lands under European rule and saw a revival with Baroque works published in the 18th century in what is today Vojvodina. Serbia gained independence following the Serbian Revolution (1804–1815) and Serbian literature has since prospered. Several Serbian writers have achieved international fame.

Old Church Slavonic literature was created based on the Byzantine model since the time of Constantine the Great, to be exact. At first, church services and biblical texts were translated into Slavic, and soon afterward other works about Christian life values including works in Latin from which they attained necessary knowledge in various fields. Although Christian literature educated the Slavs, it did not have an overwhelming influence on original works. Instead, a more narrow aspect, the genres, and poetics with which the cult of saints could be celebrated were used, owing to the Slavic celebration of Cyril and Methodius and their Slav disciples as saints and those responsible for Slavic literacy. The ritual genres were hagiographies, homiletics and hymnography, known in Slavic as žitije (vita), pohvala (eulogy), službe (church services), effectively meaning prose, rhetoric, and poetry. The fact that the first Slavic works were in the canonical form of ritual literature, and that the literary language was the ritual Slavic language, defined further development. Medieval Slavic literature, especially Serbian, was modeled on this classical Slavic literature. The new themes in Serbian literature were all created within the classic ritual genres.

Serbian medieval literature is very rich with around 500 separate genres. Medieval works are mostly a mix of history, legal theory, theology, writing, and philology. While there were several works of poetry written in Serbian literature in the Middle Ages, there are only a few dramas; published novels were mostly adaptations and translations. The earliest writings in Serbian were religious works. Religions were historically the first institutions that persisted despite political and military upheavals. They were the first organizations to see the value in recording in writing their history and policies. Serbia's early religious documents date back to the 10th and 11th centuries. In the 12th  century, Saint Sava developed the art form of religious writing. He worked to bring about an artistic aspect to these writings, also based on earlier works.

Notable medieval authors include among others: Saint Sava, Jefimija, Stefan Lazarević and Constantine of Kostenets.

This period has produced several great works by authors which have since become classics of the national literature.

Medieval literature has also influenced several modern poets, such as Desanka Maksimović, Miodrag Pavlović, Vasko Popa, and Matija Bećković.

Folk songs and epics passed from generation to generation orally dominated Post-medieval Serbian literature. Historic events, such as the Battle of Kosovo in the 14th century, play a major role in the development of Serbian epic poetry.