Transthoracic ultrasound (TUS) has a significant contribution to make in the everyday clinical practice of pulmonology, thanks to its proven efficacy in the diagnosis of chest diseases and the guidance of related interventions. TUS is a portable technique which can be performed at the point of care. It can also be repeated in the same patient as many times as necessary because of the absence of ionizing radiation and the low cost of the procedure. It is considered to be the most sensitive method for identifying pleural effusion, but it can also effectively rule out pneumothorax, and detect a variety of peripheral pulmonary abnormalities, albeit with less sensitivity than other imaging methods. TUS is indispensable in guiding invasive procedures such as thoracentesis, increasing the success rate and reducing the complications. Acquisition of the basic skills in the use of TUS is strongly recommended by several chest specialty boards worldwide, but experience in Greece remains fairly limited compared that in many other countries.