The intensification of agriculture means that increasing amounts of toxic organic and inorganic compounds are entering the environment. The pesticides generally applied nowadays are regarded as some of the most dangerous contaminants of the environment. Their presence in the environment, especially in water, is hazardous because they cause human beings to become more susceptible to disease. For these reasons, it is essential to monitor pesticide residues in the environment with the aid of all accessible analytical methods. The analysis of samples for the presence of pesticides is problematic, because of the laborious and time-consuming operations involved in preparing samples for analysis, which themselves may be a source of additional contaminations and errors. To date, it has been standard practice to use large quantities of organic solvents in the sample preparation process; but as these solvents are themselves hazardous, solventless and solvent-minimized techniques are coming into use. This paper discusses the most commonly used over the last 15 years sample preparation techniques for monitoring organophosphorus and organonitrogen pesticides residue in water samples. Furthermore, a significant trend in sample preparation, in accordance with the principles of 'Green Chemistry' is the simplification, miniaturization and automation of analytical techniques. In view of this aspect, several novel techniques are being developed in order to reduce the analysis step, increase the sample throughput and to improve the quality and the sensitivity of analytical methods. The paper describes extraction techniques requiring the use of solvents - liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and its modifications, membrane extraction techniques, hollow fibre-protected two-phase solvent microextraction, liquid phase microextraction based on the solidification of a floating organic drop (LPME-SFO), solid-phase extraction (SPE) and single-drop microextraction (SDME) - as well as solvent-free techniques - solid phase microextraction (SPME) and stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE). The advantages and drawbacks of these techniques are also discussed, and some solutions to their limitations are proposed.