There has been a marked increase in the utility of aspiration cytology for pathologic diagnosis. It may be applied to any kinds of organs and substitutes surgical biopsy. Be cause of the high risk of complication and difficulties In localization, aspiration cytology in the central nervous system (CNS) has been used with less frequency compared to other sites. However, with the advent of sophisticated imaging instruments, aspiration cytology of lesions in the CNS is being used increasingly. We present cytologic features of brain tumors as well as corresponding histologic findings. Eight types of tumors were aspirated intraoperatively and stained with the Papanicolaou method; 1 anaplastic astrocytoma, 1 glioblastoma multiforme, 1 ependymoma, 1 malignant ependymoma, 1 central neurocytoma, 1 primitive neuroectodermal tumor, 1 benign neurogenic tumor and 1 germinoma. Cytologic features of the CNS neoplasms were quite similar to those of histology except one spindle cell tumor. Reviewing various CNS neoplasms, it appears that cytology may be a useful diagnostic method.