A literature review is devoted to the current classifications of liver failure that occurs in obstructive jaundice. Modern methods of diagnosis and criteria for determining the time of development and assessing the severity of this disease, model assessment and prognosis of acute liver failure are also considered. Attention is paid to assessing the severity and determining the timing of the development of liver failure in extrahepatic cholestasis. In addition, there is no common understanding of the role of liver compensatory mechanisms involved in the development of this condition. There are no generally accepted views on the surgical tactics of treatment of patients with obstructive jaundice complicated by liver failure. The limits of application of step-by-step treatment of patients with neoplastic obstructive jaundice have not been reliably determined. All these issues require further research, search for universal tools for assessing liver failure, predicting postoperative complications for choosing the optimal surgical treatment tactics.