What's the best way to get stronger but not necessarily build huge muscles?

I heard that there is a way to do this. Of course I will build some muscle either way, that’s fine, but I’ve heard that there are work outs that only build Sarcoplasmic fluid (making them larger) in the muscle instead of increasing the amount of cells the muscle contains. Should I lift really a heavy weight a few amount of times, or lift lighter weights many times? What will each of these do?