Adaptive reuse of buildings plays a key role in achieving circularity in the built environment. Despite the number of studies that focus on the adaptive reuse of built environments on different scales, a limited focus has been given to conceptualizing the adaptive reuse of buildings as a circular economy accelerator. It is important to grasp the alignment of adaptive reuse with circular economy to promote circular building adaptability. As the first step, this paper reviews the existing body of knowledge on adaptive reuse buildings as a circular economy accelerator. This study employed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) methodology to conduct the Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Scopus and Web of Science databases were utilized to search articles, and 60 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2013 and 2024 were retrieved for further analysis. Descriptive analysis of selected studies revealed that the majority of the publications were from Italy (25%). This study classified three key research themes based on extant literature: (1) Policy and planning for adaptive reuse and circularity, (2) Sustainability attributes for circularity, and (3) multi-criteria decision and evaluation tool for circularity. This study provides insight into how circularity can be integrated into adaptive reuse building projects. As an emerging field, findings herein are significant for academic and industry practitioners to broaden the knowledge of current status, research gaps and emerging trends on the adaptive reuse of buildings as a circular economy accelerator.