Adult fish and salamanders regenerate specific neurons as well as entire CNS areas after injury. Recent studies shed light on how these anamniotes activate progenitor cells, generate the required cell types, and functionally integrate these into a complex environment. Some developmental signals and mechanisms are recapitulated during neuronal regeneration, whereas others are unique to the regeneration process. The use of genetic techniques, such as cell ablation and lineage-tracing, in combination with cell-type-specific expression profiling reveal factors that initiate, fine-tune, and terminate the regenerative response in anamniotes, with a view to translating findings to non-regenerating species.