Hepatitis C is an inflammatory liver disease caused by hepatitis C virus, which was discovered in 1989. The virus is blood-borne and represents a big public health problem, especially in developing countries where sterile medical supplies and medicines are usually unavailable. At first hepatitis C was treated with indirect antivirals – (peg)interpherone alpha and ribavirin, which have immunomodulatory effect. They were not always so effective and they also had a wide spectrum of side effects. Through research on virus and its structure, specific viral targets and a new generation of direct acting antivirals were discovered. These are inhibitors of NS3/4A protease, NS5B RNA dependent RNA polymerase and NS5A protein. All of those targets are important for life cycle of a virus and their inhibition leads to gradual elimination of the virus from the host. The problem of potentially developing a resistance to these drugs is solved thorugh the use of drug combinations. Today's medicines are very effective (> 90%) and have good endurability. Therefore, the goal in the future is to develope antiviral vaccine which would lead to the global elimination of hepatitis C.