Bayern Munich beat Wolfsburg, as Hamburg and Cottbus moved out of the drop zone.
Bayern Munich revived their prospects of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, while Hamburg and Energie Cottbus moved out of the relegation zone.
After a stuttering few weeks since the winter break, Bayern's Bundesliga title chances have seemingly evaporated and the champions have been in danger of missing out on the top three.
But a battling 2-1 win at home to Wolfsburg moves Bayern to within two points of third-placed Werder Bremen.
Lukas Podolski scored on 26 minutes and Mark van Bommel added a second 10 minutes into the second half before Wolfsburg set up a grandstand finish when Cedrick Makiadi netted on 79 minutes.
Cottbus jumped four places up the league after coming from behind to beat Arminia Bielefeld, who now slip into the drop zone.
Petr Gabriel put the visitors in front on 15 minutes, but goals from Mariusz Kukielka and Sergei Radu in the space of three second-half minutes claimed the points for Cottbus.
Hamburg are also now out of the bottom three after recording a 3-1 victory at home to fellow strugglers Eintracht Frankfurt.
Rafael van der Vaart put the hosts ahead on seven minutes, but Naohiro Takahara levelled with a goal against his former club on 59 minutes.
Substitute Piotr Trochowski restored Hamburg's lead on 77 minutes and Ivica Olic scored a third in injury-time.
Hannover took advantage of Nelson Valdez's sending off to notch a 4-2 home win over Borussia Dortmund.
Szabolcs Huszti's 56th minute penalty put Hannover ahead before Valdez was dismissed three minutes later for a second yellow card.
Jiri Stajner and an Arnold Bruggink brace put Hannover 4-0 up before Dortmund rallied to score late goals through Ebi Smolarek and Florian Kringe.
Mohamed Zidan's first-half double earned Mainz a 2-1 win at home to Nurnberg.
Ivan Saenko replied for Nurnberg in the second half, while Mainz also had Leon Andreasen sent off.
Alemannia Aachen twice came from behind to force a 2-2 draw at Bochum, who first went in front on 25 minutes through Theofanis Gekas.
After Vedad Ibisevic equalised, Joel Epalle regained the lead for Bochum, only for Matthias Lehmann to level for Aachen again on 57 minutes.
Click below for an individual match summary:
Bayern Munich 2-1 Wolfsburg
Energie Cottbus 2-1 Arminia Bielefeld
Hamburg 3-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Hannover 96 4-2 Borussia Dortmund
Mainz 2-1 Nurnberg
VFL Bochum 2-2 Alemannia Aachen
