Despite the advanced medical and radiation therapy, the role of surgical resection of brain neoplasms still remains indisputable. The maximal safe resection of benign brain tumors may result in complete recovery of the patient. Surgery of malignant tumors can resolve mass effect, improve the neurological condition of the patient providing the possibility for further complex oncotherapy based on molecular level histopathology results. The advances in technical and multidisciplinary environment of brain tumor surgery facilitate more radical and safer resection resulting in better outcomes and preservation of quality of life, even in case of tumors which were considered inoperable until recently. In this review we present the recent technical innovations used in brain tumor surgery and discuss the surgical strategy of the most common tumor types (gliomas, meningiomas, cranial nerve tumors and brain metastases). The surgical management of complex skull base tumors, pituitary tumors, as well as neuro-endoscopic surgery and pediatric brain tumors are discussed in other papers of this special issue.