Rational perioperative fluid management is one of the key determinants responsible for enhanced recovery of patients after surgery. Hypovolemic condition or hypervolemia is closely associated with an increased postoperative mortality or morbidity. Optimal fluid administration facilitates the improvement of tissue perfusion and oxygen supply, so as to avoid microcirculation dysfunction, unnecessary fluid loading, and reduce patient mortality and hospitalization stay. Therefore, accurate assessment of volume status is one of important issues in perioperative management for these patients. In the paper, diverse methods of assessing perioperative volume status of patients including static and dynamic parameters as well as noninvasive transthoracic ultrasound are critically reviewed. The advancements in assessment of the volume status of patients and perioperative fluid management are reviewed to provide new thoughts in fluid therapy of the surgical patients in this article.