OBJECTIVE: The popularity of minimally invasive surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) has been steadily increasing worldwide. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to identify global trends and hotspots in the research related to this surgical approach. METHODS: Select articles related to the field that were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) between January 1, 1993 and December 31, 2022. Visualization of networks and in-depth bibliometric analyses, including the number of publications, countries/regions, institutions, journals, authors, keywords, and references, were conducted using VOSviewer and CiteSpace software. RESULTS: A total of 1197 papers were identified over a three-decade period, with the highest production year being 2022, which saw 171 papers published. The most prolific countries/regions were the United States (279) and Harvard Medical School (59). Among journals, (3289 citations) was the most cited, while (98 publications) had the highest number of publications. Lewandrowski, Kai-Uwe (29 publications) wrote the most articles, and Ahn, Y (239 citations) ranked first among cited authors. The most frequently used keyword was "discectomy", but recent years have shown a strong emergence of keywords such as "microendoscopic decompressive laminotomy", "foraminotomy" and "classification". CONCLUSION: The United States and China have emerged as leaders in the field of minimally invasive surgery for LSS. Endoscopic spinal surgery is recognized as a critical approach, with ongoing research focused on indications, potential complications, minimally invasive anatomical approaches, and outcomes. Furthermore, there is a strong emphasis on optimizing the surgical process, which has become a trending and hot spot in current research. The improvement of surgical techniques is at the forefront of advancements in this field.