We prove that a singular complex surface that admits a complete holomorphic vector field that has no invariant curve through a singular point of the surface is obtained from a Kato surface by contracting some divisor (in particular, it is compact). We also prove that, in a singular Stein surface endowed with a complete holomorphic vector field, a singular point of the surface where the zeros of the vector field do not accumulate is either a quasihomogeneous or a cyclic quotient singularity. We give...