I discuss various aspects of finite-density QCD on the lattice. At the heart of the paper lies a discussion of the similarity of simulations in the quenched approximation and those of a certain eight-flavor theory with the fermionic determinant taken into account. The results of some numerical simulations on small lattices are presented. Also, I comment on various methods that aim at properly including the phase of the determinant, in the case the latter is non-positive-definite or complex.