Background <p>The treatment of solid tumors is a&#xa0;focus of modern surgery. Multimodal concepts open up new treatment options for patients with advanced tumor diseases. Patients with limited metastasis or oligometastasis represent a&#xa0;group that can increasingly be treated with aggressive surgery in the sense of synchronous and metachronous metastasectomy despite formal systemic disease.</p> Objective <p>The aim of this review is to present the current state of knowledge regarding surgical therapy for patients with oligometastatic disease caused by cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. The definition of oligometastasis based on the organ of origin is considered, and indications for surgical therapy are explained.</p> Materials and methods <p>This article is based on current guidelines and scientific studies on the surgical treatment of oligometastasis. Relevant surgical techniques are summarized as an overview.</p> Results <p>There is currently no uniform definition of oligometastasis that would justify an indication for surgical treatment irrespective of the primary tumor. Oligometastasis is defined both as an overall low metastatic burden, also in more than one organ, or as limited metastasis in one organ. The best data to date with regard to aggressive metastatic surgery are available for colorectal cancer. Promising retrospective data are available for esophageal and gastric cancer. The RENNAISANCE study in gastroesophageal cancer was unable to reproduce these data prospectively. Studies are currently underway in pancreatic cancer.</p> Conclusion <p>Surgical treatment of oligometastatic patients is a&#xa0;challenge. Promising retrospective data form the basis for prospective studies. The tumor biology and the test-of-time in the context of multimodal treatment should be taken into account when determining indications.</p>