We solve the Dirichlet problem for fully nonlinear elliptic equations on Riemannian manifolds under essentially optimal structure conditions, especially with no restrictions to the curvature of the underlying manifold and the second fundamental form of its boundary. The main result (Theorem 1.1) includes a new (and optimal) result in the Euclidean case. We introduce some new ideas and methods in deriving a priori estimates, which can be used to treat other types of fully nonlinear elliptic and parabolic equations on real or complex manifolds.Mathematical Subject Classification (2010): 35J15, 58J05, 35B45. Keywords: Fully nonlinear elliptic equations on Riemannian manifolds, Dirichlet problem, a priori estimates, concavity, subsolutions.