For T-SQL (MSSQL 2008+)

SELECT
  (SELECT
     MAX(MyMaxName) 
   FROM ( VALUES 
            (MAX(Field1)), 
            (MAX(Field2)) 
        ) MyAlias(MyMaxName)
  ) 
FROM MyTable1

DECLARE @TableName TABLE (Number INT, Date1 DATETIME, Date2 DATETIME, Date3 DATETIME, Cost MONEY)

INSERT INTO @TableName 
SELECT 1, '20000101', '20010101','20020101',100 UNION ALL
SELECT 2, '20000101', '19900101','19980101',99 

SELECT Number,
       Cost  ,
       (SELECT MAX([Date])
       FROM    (SELECT Date1 AS [Date]
               UNION ALL
               SELECT Date2
               UNION ALL
               SELECT Date3
               )
               D
       )
       [Most Recent Date]
FROM   @TableName

我更喜欢基于case-when的解决方案，我的假设是，与其他可能的解决方案(如交叉应用、values()、自定义函数等)相比，它对可能的性能下降的影响应该最小。

下面是case-when版本，它在大多数可能的测试用例中处理空值:

SELECT
    CASE 
        WHEN Date1 > coalesce(Date2,'0001-01-01') AND Date1 > coalesce(Date3,'0001-01-01') THEN Date1 
        WHEN Date2 > coalesce(Date3,'0001-01-01') THEN Date2 
        ELSE Date3
    END AS MostRecentDate
    , *
from 
(values
     (  1, cast('2001-01-01' as Date), cast('2002-01-01' as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date))
    ,(  2, cast('2001-01-01' as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast('2002-01-01' as Date))
    ,(  3, cast('2002-01-01' as Date), cast('2001-01-01' as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date))
    ,(  4, cast('2002-01-01' as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast('2001-01-01' as Date))
    ,(  5, cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast('2001-01-01' as Date), cast('2002-01-01' as Date))
    ,(  6, cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast('2002-01-01' as Date), cast('2001-01-01' as Date))
    ,( 11, cast(NULL         as Date), cast('2002-01-01' as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date))
    ,( 12, cast(NULL         as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast('2002-01-01' as Date))
    ,( 13, cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast(NULL         as Date), cast('2002-01-01' as Date))
    ,( 14, cast('2002-01-01' as Date), cast(NULL         as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date))
    ,( 15, cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast('2002-01-01' as Date), cast(NULL         as Date))
    ,( 16, cast('2002-01-01' as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast(NULL         as Date))
    ,( 21, cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast(NULL         as Date), cast(NULL         as Date))
    ,( 22, cast(NULL         as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date), cast(NULL         as Date))
    ,( 23, cast(NULL         as Date), cast(NULL         as Date), cast('2003-01-01' as Date))
    ,( 31, cast(NULL         as Date), cast(NULL         as Date), cast(NULL         as Date))

) as demoValues(id, Date1,Date2,Date3)
order by id
;

结果是:

MostRecent    id   Date1      Date2      Date3
2003-01-01    1    2001-01-01 2002-01-01 2003-01-01
2003-01-01    2    2001-01-01 2003-01-01 2002-01-01
2003-01-01    3    2002-01-01 2001-01-01 2002-01-01
2003-01-01    4    2002-01-01 2003-01-01 2001-01-01
2003-01-01    5    2003-01-01 2001-01-01 2002-01-01
2003-01-01    6    2003-01-01 2002-01-01 2001-01-01
2003-01-01    11   NULL       2002-01-01 2003-01-01
2003-01-01    12   NULL       2003-01-01 2002-01-01
2003-01-01    13   2003-01-01 NULL       2002-01-01
2003-01-01    14   2002-01-01 NULL       2003-01-01
2003-01-01    15   2003-01-01 2002-01-01 NULL
2003-01-01    16   2002-01-01 2003-01-01 NULL
2003-01-01    21   2003-01-01 NULL       NULL
2003-01-01    22   NULL       2003-01-01 NULL
2003-01-01    23   NULL       NULL       2003-01-01
NULL          31   NULL       NULL       NULL

如果您正在使用SQL Server 2005，您可以使用UNPIVOT特性。下面是一个完整的例子:

create table dates 
(
  number int,
  date1 datetime,
  date2 datetime,
  date3 datetime 
)

insert into dates values (1, '1/1/2008', '2/4/2008', '3/1/2008')
insert into dates values (1, '1/2/2008', '2/3/2008', '3/3/2008')
insert into dates values (1, '1/3/2008', '2/2/2008', '3/2/2008')
insert into dates values (1, '1/4/2008', '2/1/2008', '3/4/2008')

select max(dateMaxes)
from (
  select 
    (select max(date1) from dates) date1max, 
    (select max(date2) from dates) date2max,
    (select max(date3) from dates) date3max
) myTable
unpivot (dateMaxes For fieldName In (date1max, date2max, date3max)) as tblPivot

drop table dates

以下两个示例中的任何一个都可以工作:

SELECT  MAX(date_columns) AS max_date
FROM    ( (SELECT   date1 AS date_columns
           FROM     data_table         )
          UNION
          ( SELECT  date2 AS date_columns
            FROM    data_table
          )
          UNION
          ( SELECT  date3 AS date_columns
            FROM    data_table
          )
        ) AS date_query

第二个是对拉塞夫克的答案的补充。

SELECT  MAX(MostRecentDate)
FROM    ( SELECT    CASE WHEN date1 >= date2
                              AND date1 >= date3 THEN date1
                         WHEN date2 >= date1
                              AND date2 >= date3 THEN date2
                         WHEN date3 >= date1
                              AND date3 >= date2 THEN date3
                         ELSE date1
                    END AS MostRecentDate
          FROM      data_table
        ) AS date_query 

从SQL Server 2012我们可以使用IIF。

 DECLARE @Date1 DATE='2014-07-03';
 DECLARE @Date2 DATE='2014-07-04';
 DECLARE @Date3 DATE='2014-07-05';

 SELECT IIF(@Date1>@Date2,
        IIF(@Date1>@Date3,@Date1,@Date3),
        IIF(@Date2>@Date3,@Date2,@Date3)) AS MostRecentDate