Abstract Coronary artery bypass grafting is the most common cardiac surgery operation performed worldwide. It is the most effective revascularization method for several categories of patients affected by coronary artery disease. Although coronary artery bypass grafting has been performed for more than 40 years, no detailed guidelines on the choice of coronary artery bypass grafting conduits have been published and the choice of the revascularization strategy remains more a matter of art than of science. Moreover, there is a clear contradiction between the proven benefits of arterial grafting and its very limited use in everyday clinical practice. In the hope of encouraging wider diffusion of arterial revascularization and to provide a guide for clinicians, we discuss current evidence for the use of different conduits in coronary artery bypass surgery and propose an evidence-based algorithm for the choice of the second conduit during coronary artery bypass operations.