The ability to separate adhesive bonded assemblies without causing damage to the substrates is clearly very desirable. There are many applications such as in electronics, medical surgery, dentistry, building and general manufacturing where the opportunity to separate assemblies is important. This may be for repositioning in manufacturing, repair in service or recovery of materials at end of life. Various methods for adhesive reversibility or disbonding have been proposed over the last 40 years but there currently exist no universally accepted solutions for disbond-on-demand bonded applications. This paper considers the motivation for disbonding, the requirements and considerations associated with possible methods, and the overall effectiveness of the various mechanisms in the context of non-structural, semi-structural and structural joints. The range of technologies and mechanisms is reviewed, together with the associated methods for activation. The variety of methods is evaluated for their effectiveness in the context of different applications. Particular attention is given to the adverse effects on the performance of bonded assemblies in service, and the ways of mitigating these effects. It is shown that a total materials system approach must be adopted when seeking a disbonding technology for a particular set of circumstances.