Two new treatments for couples experiencing infertility, cryopreservation of pronuclear stages which is a routine practice in German fertility clinics, and cryopreservation of embryos, which is mostly done in foreign countries, give these couples a chance to make additional attempts at pregnancy. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of studies on acceptability, attitudes, concerns and the decision-making process of infertile couples with regard to their cryopreserved embryos and cryopreserved pronuclear stages. A total of 24 studies on this topic were found. All of the studies were published in the period between 2000 and September 2008. Most of the studies involved questioning infertile couples about their attitudes towards their cryopreserved embryos, while studies dealing with the attitudes of infertile couples towards cryopreserved pronucleates were rare. The analysis showed that the majority of infertile couples use their cryopreserved embryos for their own fertility treatment. In addition, many infertile couples choose to discard their cryopreserved embryos. This is due to several main factors: they have completed their families, they have undergone an unsuccessful IVF-treatment, or there are other personal circumstances that preclude these infertile couples from using their cryopreserved human embryos. Many other factors can influence a couple's decision. Thus, it is clear that the attitudes of infertile couples towards their cryopreserved embryos vary widely. Despite the great acceptance of infertile couples of the concept of embryo donation to other infertile couples or for research purposes, the donation option is fairly uncommon. While such a decision-making process is driven mainly by altruistic motives, making such a decision about the fate of surplus frozen embryos has been reported to be emotionally distressing.