Anaesthetic agents have potent cardiovascular side effects. A thorough understanding of the cardiovascular profile of each agent allows the anaesthesiologist to provide safe anaesthesia in various clinical circumstances and to choose the best anaesthetic for each individual patient. Recent ideas concerning the cardiovascular properties of anaesthetic agents are here reviewed, with special attention to the new volatile agents desflurane and sevoflurane and to new insights concerning the haemodynamic effects of the intravenous hypnotic propofol.