The popularity of ambulatory (day-case) surgery has continued to grow over the past two decades. The availability of improved drugs (for example, propofol, desflurane, sevoflurane, mivacurium, alfentanil, remifentanil, ketorolac, flumazenil, ondansetron), anesthetic techniques (for example, monitored anesthetic care) and monitors (for example, electroencephalogram-bispectral device), as well as less invasive surgical procedures ('key hole' techniques, for example), has contributed to this growth. This issue of Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology reviews the recent developments in the subspecialty of ambulatory anesthesia.