Anesthesiology is a relatively new branch of medicine that studies and employs three main types of anaesthesia: local, regional, and general. General anesthesia refers to the use of drugs to achieve complete insensitivity or unconsciousness, analgesia, muscle relaxation, and subsequent amnesia while simultaneously controlling and maintaining vital functions. The most commonly used drugs to induce and maintain general anesthesia include inhalation and intravenous anesthetics, opioid analgesics, and neuromuscular relaxants, and vital functions are primarily controlled by securing the airway, artificial ventilation, and monitoring the work of the cardiovascular system. The Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure (ABCDE) approach refers to a quick and reliable method of checking airway patency, breathing and circulation adequacy, neurological and other damage, and the presence of possible visible changes during an external examination of the patient’s entire body, which is also suitable for performing during anaesthesia, except in emergency situations. An examination guided by the ABCDE steps is useful in the early detection of general anesthesia complications and, as a result, in their early initial treatment, which has a significant impact on the reduction of postoperative morbidity and mortality. The most common complications of general anesthesia are laryngospasm, bronchospasm, pneumothorax, atelectasis, hypotension, and arrhythmias. Anaphylactic reaction, aspiration, malignant hyperthermia, awareness during anesthesia, trauma, postoperative nausea and vomiting and postoperative cognitive dysfunction are less common complications with less life-threatening potential that are, nonetheless, of high importance. Death as a complication of general anesthesia is uncommon and usually the result of an anesthesiologist’s error. Preoperative planning is critical for improving anesthesia outcomes by controlling and reducing the occurrence of complications.