Lumbar discectomy is the most common surgical method for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation, but its efficacy compared with non-surgical methods remains controversial. A large multicenter study conducted in the United States, the Spine Patient Regression Research Clinical Trial (SPORT), published the results of its observational cohort study versus a randomized controlled study. Eugene Morbidity, Stanford University Medical Center, USA, commented that the results of the SPORT study provide an important and timely reference for patients with lumbar disc herniation in choosing a treatment. However, there are still many questions about the treatment of lumbar disc herniation. For example, a cost-effectiveness analysis of surgical treatment of lumbar disc herniation should be conducted. A Swedish study suggests that surgical treatment has good cost-effectiveness, but the results need to be further confirmed; the effect of early surgical decompression on patients with severe paralytic symptoms is not clear; decompression surgery is often performed in clinical practice when the patient has motor and other functional disorders, but there is little evidence to support this approach. Similarly, cauda equina syndrome with loss of bowel and bladder function due to disc herniation is uncommon and is usually treated surgically, but there is a lack of strong evidence for its efficacy or optimal timing. With the development of surgical techniques, some minimally invasive localized procedures have been used for nerve root decompression, but it is not clear whether these approaches have better outcomes or may increase postoperative complications. In addition, studies using drugs to control the progression of localized inflammation in the nerve root are ongoing.