One of the main subtleties in trying to classify surfaces over non-algebraically closed fields is that there are minimal surfaces which become non-minimal over the algebraic closure.
As an example I will focus on the case that I know best, that of (geometrically) rational surfaces. Over an algebraically closed field, it is well-known that the only such minimal surfaces are $\mathbb{P}^2$ and the rational ruled surfaces $\mathbb{F}_n$ for $n \geq 0$.
If the field is not algebraically closed, then things are a lot more complicated. It is a theorem of Iskovskikh that a minimal rational surface over a perfect field is one of the following types:
- $\mathbb{P}^2$.
- A smooth quadric $X \subset \mathbb{P}^3$ with $\mathrm{Pic}(X) = \mathbb{Z}$.
- A Del Pezzo surface $X$ with $\mathrm{Pic}(X) = \mathbb{Z}K_X$, here $K_X$ denotes the canonical divisor.
- A conic bundle $f : X \to C$ over a rational curve $C$, with $\mathrm{Pic}(X) = \mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}$.
In particular conic bundles form a very large family and can have arbitrarily many (geometrically) degenerate fibres.
If you want to learn more about this result, I heartily recommend the notes "Rational surfaces over nonclosed fields" by Brendan Hassett, which can be found on his webpage.