Farnesol (FOH) recently has been paid close attention because of its intrinsic properties as a cosmetic, pharmaceutical and industrial material. However, extraction from natural sources and chemical synthesis often suffer from the low yield and purity. Metabolic engineering of microorganisms for FOH production is an alternative way to meet the ever-growing demands. Several efforts have been done to make it possible to produce FOH from microorganisms including S. cerevisiae and E. coli. With developments of systems biology and synthetic biology, an optimal industrial microorganism can be expected to produce FOH cost-effectively. This review aims to give an update on the various facets of FOH synthesis pathway including the features of involved genes and enzymes, and recent progresses on FOH production. Combining traditional metabolic engineering with these new fascinating molecular, systems biology and synthetic biology tools will provide a better understanding of FOH biosynthesis and a great potential of microbial production. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.