In this article, the problems of finite-time/fixed-time synchronization have been investigated for discontinuous neural networks in the unified framework. To achieve the finite-time/fixed-time synchronization, a novel unified integral sliding-mode manifold is introduced, and corresponding unified control strategies are provided; some criteria are established for selecting suitable parameters for solving the related issue, namely, the dynamics of neural network can reach the designed sliding-mode manifold in finite/fixed time, and stay on it thereafter. Moreover, the estimations of setting time are given out. The established unified framework can bring in various protocols by choosing the different parameters of controllers and sliding-mode manifold, which extend previous related results. Finally, some numerical examples are introduced to show the effectiveness and superiority of resulting conclusions.