The objectives of this study were to carry out cross-cultural adaptation of the HIV/AIDS-Target Quality of Life Instrument for Portuguese and to observe its psychometric properties. Translations, translations synthesis, back translation, analysis by a committee of specialists, pre-final version test, studies of validity and reliability of the final version were carried out. Psychometric properties were evaluated by the administration of the Brazilian version in 50 consecutive HIV positive patients, from the DST/HIV/AIDS municipal ambulatory of São Miguel do Oeste, Santa Catarina State. The internal consistency was observed by a-Cronbach. The reliability was estimated using the intraclass correlation coefficient and Bland-Altmann diagram. The validity was observed comparing the scores of the questionnaire with the WHOQOL-HIV-Brief through the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The results pointed out to a-Cronbach of 0.893. The correlations obtained were 0.934 for inter-interviewer and 0.977 for intra-interviewer. The correlation with WHOQOL-HIV-Bref was 0.824. It was concluded that the cross-cultural adaptation process was successful and the adapted questionnaire demonstrated good psychometric properties.