In this paper, we derive analytical solutions of the (2+1)‐dimensional Kadomtsev‐Petviashvili (KP) equation by two different systematic methods. Using the exp(−ψ(z))‐expansion method, exact solutions of the mentioned equation including hyperbolic, exponential, trigonometric, and rational function solutions have been obtained. Based on the work of Yuan et al., we proposed the extended complex method to seek exact solutions of the (2+1)‐dimensional KP equation. The results demonstrate that the applied methods are efficient and direct methods to solve the complex nonlinear systems.