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Goal-directed actions refer to behaviors that are formulated following a given objective by building a plan and selecting actions. These actions should lead to the intended issue (goal) either immediately or within a longer period. This type of action is an important unit of analysis in the study of human behavior due to its involvement in most of the complex or novel situations a subject may encounter, regardless of the cognitive, affective, or social abilities this situation involves. While this field of study has been investigated in great depth in healthy subjects, it is still not well documented in schizophrenia. However, we will demonstrate that this point of view enables us to have a more global perspective on a schizophrenic person’s deficits in terms of symptoms and (cognitive) abilities. A more systematic analysis can lead to the development of integrative hypotheses of these deficits, instead of considering that they are distinct troubles. This article aims to review goal-directed actions in schizophrenia by clarifying the concepts and providing theoretical landmarks for the comprehension of existing results.