A myriad of biologically active products incorporates polyenic frameworks. Among the syntheses developed to access these moieties, metal-catalyzed cross-couplings emerged as reactions of choice especially due to their high stereoselectivity. Particularly, the use of bifunctionalized compounds (linchpin reagents) allows a fast, modular and efficient access to polyenic chains. In this review, we will focus on the preparation of bifunctionalized dienes and on their utilization in the synthesis of polyenes.