The past 20 years have brought significant advances in our ability to manage patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. More precise classification systems, improvements in diagnosis and staging, and effective new treatments have improved outcomes and made cure a reasonable goal for many patients with these disorders. In this overview of the progress seen in the field over the past 2 decades, we describe a variety of advances for specific lymphomas, including diagnostic methods such as gene array studies and immunophenotyping and new treatment approaches.