The review analyzes and summarizes data from studies on the effectiveness of the cytological method in diagnosing the most common malignant skin tumors (basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma). Sources have been searched in the Pubmed, CyberLeninka and e-library databases, the articles from 2000 to 2023 are taken into account. The advantages and the disadvantages of the method, possible difficulties in differential diagnosis, as well as the main reasons for under- and overdiagnosis are noted. The results show the high efficiency of the cytological method in diagnosing basal cell carcinoma and detecting regional and distant metastases of melanoma. While for diagnosing the primary focus of squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, the method can only be used as an additional method due to the limited data on the correlation of cytological and histological findings in a large cohort of examined patients, as well as due to the limitations of the method in assessing tumor characteristics.