Corporate social responsibility (CSR) represents a business concept within which the company achieves its fundamental goal, profit maximization, but at the same time affects the consequences that its business can have on the environment and society. It is precisely the concept of CSR that has been defined and clarified through the definitions of various authors, and its features have been summarized and its dimensions have been clarified in order to make it easier to understand as a concept. Given that the company, as part of the economy, is not alone in its operations, the stakeholders of its environment were also clarified, and the advantages that the implementation of CSR brings to the company were highlighted. The paper presents the historical development of CSR in the territory of the Republic of Croatia, and defines the strategies, advantages and challenges of CSR implementation that may occur in the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises. The work also provides examples of good practice, specifically from Croatian companies in the field of SMEs, which includes the companies Biovega d.o.o., Končar Institute for Electrical Engineering d.o.o. and Špeceraj d.o.o. Also, an empirical study was conducted to gain insight into consumers' awareness of CSR in the SME sector and their perception of the importance of CSR for themselves.