This short review paper summarizes our recent developments in liquid-phase selective oxidation catalysis with redox active Cr- and Fe-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), MIL-101 and MIL-100, using environmentally benign oxidants molecular oxygen, tert-butyl hydroperoxide and hydrogen peroxide. The impact of the transition metal nature on the reaction selectivity and the most interesting features of the oxidation catalysis by the MOFs are addressed. Insertion of catalytically active metal-oxygen polyanionic clusters into the cages of MIL-101 to induce new catalytic properties is also discussed. An attempt is made to establish relationships between adsorption properties of the MOFs and peculiarities of their catalytic performances. Special attention is paid to the nature of the catalysis and catalysts stability and reusability. A comparison of the selected MOFs with conventional single-site heterogeneous catalysts (transition-metal-substituted zeolites, aluminophosphates and mesoporous silicates) is provided, and the scope and limitations of the MOF catalysts are discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.