Purpose. On the basis of a comprehensive study of the conventional remedial strategies (physical and chemical) of the contaminants, it has been reported that physical and chemical remediation are very expensive, disruptive to the environment, may temporarily increase exposure to chemicals, and often leave residual or left out contamination. Broadly it does not eliminate the problem, rather merely shift it. In addition, phytoremediation has been proposed as a cheap, sustainable, effective, and environmentally friendly over conventional remediation technologies. Plants use solar energy to extract chemicals from the soil and water to deposit them in their biomass, or to convert them to a less toxic form. These plants later can be harvested and treated, removing the pollutants. However, several species can tolerate and grow slowly in the specific contaminated sites and produce very low biomass. It can be overcome by introducing the novel traits for the uptake and accumulation of pollutants into plant’s biomass through the genetic manipulation and plant transformation technologies.

Method. This manuscript critically reviews the some of the prominent research efforts to address the challenges and highlights the finding.