High-resolution ultrasound has become the first line imaging modality to determine the nature, size and location of suspicious thyroid nodules due to high sensitivity and excellent specificity. A professional and accurate ultrasound examination is the premise for realizing standardized, individualized and precise diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer. Surgeons not only have the superiority in learning ultrasound examination skills, but also can expand its clinical application value based on their clinical experience. Through performing ultrasound examination, surgeons could make better preoperative staging and risk stratification of the thyroid cancer, and more individualized treatment plan, and meanwhile, could also enhance their professional skills, and provide timely, convenient and effective postoperative follow-up, and thereby improve patients’ compliance. With the development of ultrasonics, molecular diagnostic techniques and artificial intelligence technologies, the portable ultrasound machine and mobilation advancements in the future will accelerate transition of traditional thyroid surgery towards precise thyroid surgery.