Twenty patients with acinic cell carcinoma of the salivary glands are presented. Seventeen tumours were located in the parotid and three in minor salivary glands, one being considered intraosseous. According to the growth patterns, they were classified as solid-acinar in 8 patients, microcystic in 5 patients, follicular in 3 patients and papillocystic in 4 patients. 9 cases were considered high grade malignant tumours and among the 11 well-differentiated, 2 suffered dedifferentiation in local recurrences. Local recurrence appeared in 9 cases. Three cases had nodal disease on admission while 5 developed this during the course of the disease. Distant metastasis appeared in 2 cases. Local recurrence and nodal disease correlated with the degree of differentiation and state of the margins in the surgical specimen. We recommend an aggressive surgical approach followed by postoperative radiotherapy for the undifferentiated tumours and extensive ones. For the limited and better differentiated, a more limited excision, such as total parotidectomy preserving the facial nerve is suggested.