The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC) was formalized in October 2007 by experts in thyroidology at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The first edition of the TBSRTC book was published in 2010 and the second edition in 2018. The TBSRTC is widely employed in cytology practices in the United States and has also served as a model for similar tiered classification schemes for reporting thyroid cytopathology specimens. The tremendous success of TBSRTC cannot be underscored, it has provided a diagnostic framework which is well aligned with the present and the future of thyroid nodule management.