In many industrial processes, large quantities of volatile and flammable organic solvents are used in various reaction systems and separation steps defining a major part of the environmental and economic performance of a process. Accordingly, a growing area of research in the development of green technologies is devoted to designing new, environment-friendly and tunable solvents the use of which would meet both technological and economic demands. Among proposed solvents, room temperature ionic liquids, supercritical and subcritical fluids and solvents from natural and renewable sources stand out as the most promising approaches for current solvent innovation. A brief overview of up-to-date knowledge regarding these solvents is presented herein, with special emphasis on their properties, applications and further perspectives as truly green industrial solvents. (c) 2015 Society of Chemical Industry