A current aim of society is to produce fuels from non-food biomass and catalysis is central to achieving this aim. Catalytic steam-reforming of biomass gives synthesis gas and this can be further transformed to give transport fuels using catalysis. Biofuels and fuel additives can also be obtained by catalytic upgrading of bio-oil produced by non-catalytic pyrolysis of biomass. This upgrading can be performed by low temperature esterification with alcohols (followed by water separation) or by high temperature gasification, cracking or hydrotreating processes. Upgraded bio-oil can also be obtained by pyrolysis of biomass in the presence of catalysts. This review considers recent trends in the chemistry of these processes for biofuel production and the catalysts used. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.