Neurological complications related to spinal surgery are not common, but can result in catastrophic clinical failures. The ultimate goal during the operation should be to try to reduce and prevent a severe neurologic complication by careful preoperative planning and attention to trivial details related to the patients and their pathologies. It is very critical and important to understand the potential neurological complications that can occur during the operation and to manage them if they should happen. In our review article, general principles associated with various neurologic complications are reviewed and discussed.