The paper gives an overview of recent research activities that explore new pathways to achieve selective structurization of semiconductor surfaces by electrochemical deposition or dissolution techniques. Of a particular emphasis are pathways that are based on a two step procedure: First, locally a semiconductor surface is selectively activated (or de-activated) using techniques with a high lateral resolution (focussed ion electron beam, or AFM). In a second step, an electrochemical reaction (dissolution or material deposition) is selectively carried out at sensitized surface locations. Different examples of this strategy are given including selective suppression of a surface by damage induced amorpbization. Additionally, smart structuring approaches involving self-organization of deposition or dissolution processes are shortly discussed.