At the time of diagnosis, 25-30% of all patients with renal cell carcinoma already present with metastatic disease. Furthermore, 20-30% of patients with renal cell carcinoma will have progressive disease despite radical nephrectomy with complete tumor resection. In this review, we discuss the current therapeutic options for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: These include palliative radical nephrectomy, surgery of metastasis, tumor embolisation and medical treatment options (e.g. immunotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy), as well as supportive pain treatment.