Kidneys are retroperitoneal organs with the nephron as a basic and functional unit. Kidney cancer is caused by malignant transformation of the kidney tubule cells. Clear-cell, papillary, chromophobic, and collecting duct cancer are the most common subtypes of kidney cancer, and the major risk factors for their development are hypertension, smoking and obesity. Due to the more frequent use of imaging diagnostic methods, the frequency of detection cancer litimed on kidneys has increased. The TNM stage is a prerequisite for selecting type of surgical treatment. Partial nephrectomy should be performed for all small tumors that are limited to the kidneys (T1), while for tumors greater than 7 cm, the radical nephrectomy is a gold standard for surgical treatment. Laparoscopic and robotic radical nephrectomy have a lower rate of perioperative complications compared to open radical nephrectomy, while the oncological outcome is similar to all methods. Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy is a much more complex method, with 2.5 times greater risk for complications than open partial nephrectomy. Compared with other methods, robotic partial nephrectomy is cost-effective within larger centers while in a smaller ones it is not. The predisposition for surgical treatment of metastatic disease is individual approach and proper selection of patients.