This review looks at the use of indocyanine green (ICG) in colorectal surgery, from a quantitative point of view. The main benefits of the ICG technique in colorectal surgery, can be summarized as follows: a)in the realization of the intraoperative fluorescence angiography as an adjuvant in the process of anastomosis, b)in the fluorescence-guided detection of lymph node metastases in colorectal cancer and, also, the sentinel lymph node technique, which was proven better than formal methods in some studies, c) marking with positive fluorescence a liver nodule as small as "just" 200 tumor cells, d) offering assistance in the diagnosis of a fistula, e)in the possibility to be used for tumor tattooing also, f)providing help in maintaining a clean surgical field and preventing wound infection in abdominoperineal resection. Apart from the qualitative intraoperative use of ICG, the method can be employed in association with quantitative methods, such as maximum intensity, relative maximum intensity, and various parameters of the inflow (time-to-peak, slope, and t1/2max), this latter category being more significantly associated with anastomotic leakage.