Recent advances in mass spectrometry have expanded our knowledge of lipids and lipid metabolic pathways involved in many (patho)physiological events. Targeted and non-targeted lipidomics are powerful analytical strategies with distinct features, and a combination of these two approaches is often employed to maximize the coverage of lipid species detected and quantified in complex biological matrices. This review briefly summarizes the applications of targeted and non-targeted lipidomics, mainly focusing on electrospray ionization-liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (ESI LC-MS/MS), along with recent technical advances in the field. Current limitations and challenges in lipidomics and possible solutions are also discussed. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.