Although surgical resection offers the best chance for long-term survival for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the limited number of resectable patients and the presence of micrometastatic disease is limiting the effectiveness of this modality as sole treatment. Results of randomized trials demonstrated a survival benefit for preoperative (neoadjuvant) cisplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with stage IIIA NSCLC compared to surgery alone. In stage I+II NSCLC preoperative chemotherapy, although still experimental, clearly offers encouraging results. However, there is no evidence of its superiority over adjuvant chemotherapy. Moreover, for adjuvant therapy a benefit has not been established yet. Possibly current ongoing or recently finished trials may change the recommendations on adjuvant or neoadjuvant therapy for completely resected or resectable early disease in the future.