President Donald Trump announced the extraordinary night-time operation on social media hours after the attack early on Saturday.
Multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas, the capital, as Maduro's government immediately accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations.
The Venezuelan government called it an "imperialist attack" and urged citizens to take to the streets.
It was not immediately clear who was running the country, and Maduro's whereabouts were not immediately known.
Maduro, Trump posted on Truth Social, "has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with US Law Enforcement. Details to follow."
He set a news conference for Saturday morning.
The explosions in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, early on the third day of 2026 - at least seven blasts - sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report hearing and seeing the explosions.
The apparent attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes, but it was unclear if more actions lay ahead, though Trump said in his post that the strikes were carried out "successfully".
The strike came as the Trump administration has escalated pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States.
The CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels - the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US began strikes in September.
Trump for months had threatened that he could soon order strikes on targets on Venezuelan land following months of attacks on boats accused of carrying drugs.
Maduro has decried the US military operations as a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.
Parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.
Smoke could be seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.
Trump is at his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has spent the past two weeks for the holiday season.
Venezuela's government responded to the attack with a call to action.
"People to the streets!" it said in a statement.
"The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilisation plans and repudiate this imperialist attack."
Maduro had "ordered all national defence plans to be implemented" and declared "a state of external disturbance".
Republican US senator Mike Lee posted his potential concerns, reflecting a view from the right flank in the Congress.
"I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force," Lee said on X.
It was not clear if the US Congress had been officially notified of the strikes.
The US military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September.
As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115.
They followed a major build-up of American forces in the waters off South America that has been the largest military presence in the region in generations.
Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the US and asserted that the US is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels.
On Friday, Venezuela said it was open to negotiating an agreement with the US to combat drug trafficking.
Maduro also said in an interview aired on Thursday that the US wanted to force a government change in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves through the pressure campaign.
