A 71-year-old woman with an hepatic cyst that led to obstructive jaundice is reported. Percutaneous intracystic fluid aspiration was useful in transiently decreasing the jaundice. Thereafter, the cyst was extirpated, and was found to be large (nearly 10 cm), benign and non-parasitic. This patient and 15 similar cases reported in the literature, indicate that the risk of jaundice induced by a simple hepatic cyst is related to its size (larger than 10 cm) and location near the common hepatic duct.