The main aim of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is to achieve the best clinical outcomes related to antibiotics; secondary objectives are to reduce adverse events, including allergy and diarrhea and to minimize the impact on antimicrobial resistance. Identifying opportunities to safely reduce antibiotic prescribing in hospitals is necessary to enable prescribers and AMS teams to best focus their efforts to reduce antibiotic use. The main opportunities for AMS in surgery include treatment of community and healthcare-associated infections, and also perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis for the prevention of surgical site infections, which account for 20% of overall healthcare-associated infections. Clinical decision-making on antibiotic use (including empiric antibiotic selection), daily re-evaluation of the need for continued antibiotic therapy, and optimizing the duration of therapy should be basic expectations of surgical practice in the antibiotic-resistance era. Additionally, and most importantly, surgeons should be encouraged to seek consultation from their AMS team or infectious diseases consultant when questions arise.