Minimally invasive surgery for lumbar disc herniation can be categorized into complete minimally invasive surgery and palliative minimally invasive surgery for surgical treatment. Regardless of which type of surgery is performed, the most common complications include nerve injury, bleeding, infection, etc. The contraindications are similar to those for incisional surgery. Some patients with other comorbidities cannot tolerate incisional surgery, which can be treated with minimally invasive surgery, such as patients with renal insufficiency. Palliative minimally invasive surgery has the advantage of being relatively inexpensive, minimally invasive, and preserves the function of the discs, but because it preserves most of the discs, there is a possibility of recurrence at a later date. Thorough minimally invasive surgery solves the problem of recurrence because it removes the nucleus pulposus completely, but there is a slight limitation of the functional activities of the lumbar spine after the surgery. Minimally invasive surgery for lumbar disc herniation requires a certain amount of experience on the part of the clinician and a higher level of equipment in the hospital, so it is not yet widely available in the clinic. Clinicians should consider the needs and possibilities, and formulate a surgical plan with the goal of increasing the cure rate, improving the quality of life of the patient, and optimizing the patient’s outcome. With the continuous development and innovation of lumbar disc herniation surgical treatment technology, as well as people’s more in-depth understanding of the disease, lumbar disc herniation surgical treatment will have a broad development prospect, from the traditional invasive surgery to minimally invasive surgery, or even non-invasive surgery is an inevitable trend of development.