A renal transplant surgery is a procedure to replace a damaged kidney with a healthy one from a donor. The new kidney can come from a deceased donor or a living donor, such as a family member. Most people receive one kidney, but in rare cases, they might get two from a deceased donor. People who donate a kidney can live healthy lives with just one. Before surgery, medical, psychological, and social evaluations are conducted to ensure the fitness and safety of the recipient and the donor (in living-kidney donor transplants). Testing also confirms proper blood group and HLA matching and tissue cross-matching.

The kidney transplant surgery lasts between three and five hours and is performed under general anaesthesia by a transplant surgeon. After the surgery, the nephrologist supervises the recipient's monitoring and medications.