With the development of clinical and basic research, as well as practical experience of nutrition therapy, enteral nutrition occupies the dominant route of therapy after abdominal surgery compared with parenteral nutrition. Currently, parenteral nutrition is often used supplementarily for patients with insufficient enteral feeding, or totally for whom unable to carry out enteral nutrition. Cautions should be paid according to the indications and contraindications of parenteral nutrition, avoiding the misuse of parenteral nutrition. A considerable percent of postoperative patients who need parenteral nutrition have complex complications with prolonged courses of disease, thus often need intensive care treatment. Nutrition therapy including energy and protein needs should be individualized based on the pathophysiological and metabolic characteristics of critically ill patients. Timing of adding supplemental parenteral nutrition should be based on patient′s nutrition risk, early supplemental parenteral nutrition is indicated to those with high nutrition risk. Glutamine can be added to parenteral nutrition, while attention should also be paid to the choice of lipids. New lipids including structured lipids, omega⁃3 fatty acids, and lipid emulsion formulas of soybean oil, medium⁃chain triglycerides, olive oil, and fish oil (SMOF) might be beneficial to surgical critically ill patients. This article reviews the indications, targets of energy and proteins, time to initiation and formula of parenteral nutrition for critically ill patients after abdominal surgery, as well as the related progress and concepts in recent years, with the aim to provide new information for clinical practice.