In the review the literature data on the effect of alcohol on the developing brain of human and animals are summarized. The information is presented on the neuroimaging, histological, cellular and molecular-genetic disturbances in the brain in fetal alcohol syndrome and following exposure to alcohol during the early postnatal period. The structural developmental abnormalities of the different parts of the brain, disorders of neurogenesis and neuronal apoptosis, changes in metabolism, receptors and secondary signals system of neurons are described. Prenatal alcohol exposure causes significant, various long-term disturbances of the brain structures at the organ, tissue, cellular and subcellular level, which may lay in the basis of the observed neurological, behavioral and metal disorders.