Increasing value of lignocellulosic biomass through catalytic approaches is an area, which recently attracted a lot of attention. Due to specific features of such catalysis, different from more traditional heterogeneous catalysis in transformations of petrochemicals, the authors considered important to address various methodological issues, such as product analysis, catalytic measurements, influence of mass transfer, development of kinetic expressions, reactions intensification by application of microreactors and technology development in general. Potential pitfalls, challenges and research opportunities are highlighted.