For more than 30 years, palladium has been extensively employed in the Suzuki–Miyaura cross coupling reaction (SMCR) for the synthesis of C–C coupled products. However, Pd-based reactions are associated with higher cost of the synthetic protocols, tedious work-ups, product contamination and metal leaching. In view of this scenario, other metals such as Ni, Cu, Co, Fe, Rh and Ru have gathered the attention of researchers for their usage in SMCR with a wide range of electrophiles that could lead the synthesis of industrially important compounds with various functional groups. In this review, we have discussed the advancements (within the last 4 years) in catalysis related to SMCR that would be beneficial for researchers in designing synthetic protocols for the preparation of pharmacophores as well as drug molecules.