Esophagectomy is one of the most complicated procedures. Satisfactory anesthesia not only ensures the safety in terms of low morbidity and mortality postoperatively, but also one of the potential factors relevant to long-term survival. Most of physicians, however, ignore the significance of anesthesia. This article focuses on the recent advances of anesthesia for esophagectomy in preoperative preparation for induction, rapid-sequence induction, one-lung ventilation, fluid management during surgery and postoperative early extubation and analgesia.