The ultimate test of an esthetically pleasing restoration is the achievement of a natural visual appearance and function. In this regard, varying perception by each individual is a persistent dilemma. Control and understanding of the composition of colors is critical when attempting to alter a shade. There are several factors that can influence a dental professional's color assessment. It is difficult for a dental practitioner to read color perfectly and no dental operatory is free from problems. A thorough understanding of the potential factors affecting color perception allows the dental professional to compensate for them as required to achieve the most accurate shade match possible. In today's era, digital systems provide restorative dentists with a distinct advantage in creating highly esthetic natural looking restorations but the current predominant disadvantage of these systems is cost, which might detract from their widespread appeal. In addition, in the future, technology based shade matching systems may be used to standardize the fabrication of ceramics, composite materials, thereby solving some of the current problems caused by inconsistencies in the materials.