Lignocellulosic biomass (LC) has gained a substantial interest in replacement of the existing primary transportation fuels. This review basically emphasizes the recent progress in upgradation of biomass-derived furan compounds into traditional fuel grade liquid hydrocarbons. The article starts with a brief introduction about the existing commercial technologies for the production of furanics from LC-biomass followed by envisaging the state of furan platform in manufacturing of several possible expedient fuel and commodity chemical-precursors. Subsequently, the review switches to recent advancements in the catalytic upgradation of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) and furfural to diesel and jet fuel range alkanes. After that, the key challenges associated in the commercial production of furanic-fuels have been addressed to some extent. Overall, this piece of survey attempts to focus the advances in the catalytic routes to fuel precursor alkanes from biomass/carbohydrate derived furans. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.