Background and Objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a critical public health concern, particularly in the United States, where it accounted for 7.6% of all newly diagnosed cancers in 2024. While the overall incidence of the disease has declined over the last two decades, particularly among patients over the age of 50 years, a concerning rise in early-onset CRC among patients requires a reassessment of screening strategies, the optimization of existing treatment strategies, and the adoption of new approaches to improve patient outcomes. While minimally invasive techniques have demonstrated clear benefits over open surgery (OS), there is limited consensus over long-term oncologic outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and applicability in locally advanced or recurrent CRC. The objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive review of current treatment modalities in the treatment of CRC and their long-term oncologic outcomes. Methods: For this narrative review, an updated review of the English literature was performed between 1993 and 2023 using the PubMed database. The authors reviewed and highlighted landmark papers at their time and the impact they had on the evolution of the management of CRC. Key Content and Findings: Despite significant advances in our understanding of tumor biology, chemotherapy, and screening recommendations, surgery remains a mainstay of treatment for CRC. Continued advancements in surgical technology, equipment, and training have revolutionized our surgical approaches to CRC. Procedures that once required a midline laparotomy can now often be performed in a minimally invasive fashion, which is associated with reduced postoperative pain, shortened length of stay, and overall improved patient satisfaction. Conclusions: With the advent of robotic surgery (RS) and increasingly sophisticated endoscopic procedures, the surgical treatment landscape in colorectal surgery continues to evolve. Over time, the use of laparoscopic surgery (LS) and RS has become the preferred option, given similar oncologic outcomes and improved pain, hospital length of stay, and decreased complication rates. The advancement in robotic technology, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals will continue to push the boundary on the minimally invasive approach that can provide safe oncologic outcomes in the management of CRC.