Developments in the role of adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy for the treatment of patients with breast cancer have focused on the taxes, in particular, docetaxel. This paper discusses the rationale for the introduction of docetaxel into the management of patients following surgery and also its role in those patients with locally-advanced disease, focussing on key clinical trials. The addition of docetaxel to standard adjuvant chemotherapeutic regimens does seem to result in an increased survival in some patients with early-stage disease. In the neoadjuvant setting, the addition of docetaxel to standard regimens does increase pathological response rates, which is a surrogate marker of eventual outcome.