During the past two decades, remarkable progress has been made in the treatment of cancers of the colon and rectum. Both oncologic and functional outcomes for this disease have improved dramatically. The reasons for the improved patient outcome in this disease include advances in knowledge of the biology of the disease, advances in surgical instrumentation and techniques, and ongoing advances in multimodality therapy, with the use of radiation and chemotherapy as an adjuvant to surgical resection. This review details many of these advances in a comprehensive manner and illustrates the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach for optimizing outcome for patients with these cancers.