Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the third most common genitourinary malignancy after bladder and prostate cancer, and accounts for 3%of all adult malignancies. The incidence of RCC has been rising between 2.3-4.3% annually in the last 30 years. In addition to an increase in small asymptomatic RCC, there has also been an upward trend in large, advanced tumors and disease specific mortality. RCC has the highest mortality rate among genitourinary malignancies. Primary treatment of RCC is surgery. In localized disease radical or partial nephrectomy may be performed open or laparoscopically, according to indications. In metastatic RCC, surgery has also an important role and cytoreductive nephrectomy is the treatment of choice for ideal candidates in the last years. In this review, the indications and limits of surgery were discussed both in localized and metastatic RCC in the light of current literature.