Abstract: Esophageal carcinoma is a common worldwide malignancy for which the major treatment method is surgery, and there are various kinds of surgical procedures: (1) esophagectomy via right thoracic, abdominal and cervical approaches; (2) esophagectomy via left thoracic approach with anastomosis upon or under aortic arch； (3) esophagectomy via left thoracic approach with cervical anastomosis； (4) Ivor-Lewis； (5) esophageal pull-out via abdominal and cervical approaches with cervical anastomosis； (6) esophagectomy aided by videoassisted thoracoscope； (7) esophagectomy with jejunum or colon substitution. In this review, the current surgical treatments for esophageal carcinoma, perioperative management and novel surgical technique applications are summarized. Besides, the future of esophageal surgery is predicted including minimally invasive surgery, the improving standard of lymph node dissection, neoadjuvant therapy application, postoperative life quality and prospective artificial esophagus. Meanwhile, the remaining problems are discussed.