The progress of liver surgery is characterized by precision, minimal invasion and effectiveness in the early 21st century. Hepatectomy, as the mainstay treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), has entered a precise era. However, key techniques involved in the precise hepatectomy for HCC remain unclear at present. The author, based on the systematic clinical investigations, proposes that the key techniques involve four aspects: accurate assessment and planning, precise dissection of the porta hepatis, meticulous hepatic parenchyma transaction and sophisticated postoperative management. There is an urgent need for the standardization of the key techniques of precise hepatectomy for HCC, and the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of precise hepatectomy for HCC from the perspective of evidence-based medicine, so as to further disseminate the precise hepatectomy as an appropriate technique in the country.