The purpose of this paper is to call attention to a number of approaches that have recently become attractive for the treatment of donor organs or tissues prior to transplantation in such a way that they succeed better as transplants thereafter. These treatments are designed to select from an organ or tissue those cellular elements required for the express purposes of the transplant. Three sets of examples of "selective transplantation" are offered; those that focus upon the maintenance of mechanical functions of the donor tissue, those in which metabolic properties of the graft are paramount, and those in which immunological considerations are primary. Although it is predicted that the selective approach described will prove to be useful in a variety of clinical settings, the full extent of its applicability remains to be demonstrated.