The functions of the striatum (caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens) and its major dopaminergic inputs have been investigated for many decades. While a role of the dopamine-striatal system in motor performance is largely recognized, the nature of its cognitive function(s) is widely debated and remains elusive. Numerous previous studies have linked phasic activations of the dopamine-striatal system with processing unexpected rewards and reward-related stimuli. More recently, the exclusivity of this historically well-established reward response, however, has come under question. An alternative view suggests that activation of the dopamine-striatal system provides a signal related to saliency in general, rather than reward specifically. Saliency, in this context, describes the capability of a stimulus to perturb and seize limited attentional and behavioral resources (i.e., elicit an attentional/behavioral switch). In the present experiments, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate if, and how, activity in the human striatum is linked to the saliency, rather than the rewarding quality, of a particular event. We demonstrate that the human striatum responds to salient, nonrewarding visual stimuli, and a functional division in the striatum according to the behavioral relevance of these stimuli is suggested. Furthermore, we report that human striatal activations in response to monetary reward depend on the saliency surrounding receipt of the money, suggesting the so-called “reward response” of the striatum may be more appropriately referred to as a “saliency response.” Finally, we provide evidence that the human striatum responds to salient events in a graded fashion - the magnitude of activity in the striatum reflects the level of saliency associated with an event, even in the absence of reward. Together the present findings support the contention that activation of the dopamine-striatal system is related to saliency in general, rather than reward exclusively. As such, activity in the striatum may provide a signal to facilitate the reallocation of available cognitive resources to salient events, including but extending beyond rewards, which demand prioritized processing.