Abstract: Surgical resection is the only potentially curative therapeutic method for patients with gastric cancer. However, conventional laparotomy is sometimes associated with considerable complications and mortality rate. This procedure also affects patient quality of life after surgery. Minimally invasive techniques can potentially provide an attractive alternative to current surgical procedures in terms of reducing surgical injury and accelerating postoperative recovery. Minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer has recently been reasonably applied to two distinct forms of intervention: endoscopic resection of the tumor and laparoscopic surgery. In the near future, sentinel node navigation and robot surgery will provide more options for treating gastric cancer. Such developments will improve the quality of life of patients following surgery for gastric cancer. Various well-designed clinical trials of the minimally invasive techniques are available. Thus, the mode of surgery for gastric carcinoma will be widely accepted and rapidly developed worldwide.