Moyamoya disease is a chronic cerebrovascular occlusive disorder that results in severe morbidity and death. There is much controversy surrounding the optimal treatment for adult patients with the disorder. There have been no randomized trials to assess the efficacy of any single surgical treatment, and existing case series suffer from inadequate power, selection bias, and inherent differences in patient characteristics. In this article the authors review the literature concerning the optimal surgical treatment of adult patients with moyamoya disease.