The chemistry of cyclic sulfinic acid derivatives (sultines and cyclic sulfinamides) was underdeveloped for a long time due to their inaccessibility. Considering the importance of cyclic sulfinate esters and amides in the fields of chemistry, pharmaceutical science, and material science, synthesis strategies involving cyclic sulfinic acid derivatives have been paid more attention in recent years, and have been widely used in the synthesis of sulfur-containing compounds such as sulfoxides, sulfones, sulfinates and thioethers. Despite the impressive improvements that have been made in last twenty years with the new strategies, to date, no reviews have been published, to the best of our knowledge, dealing with the preparation of cyclic sulfinic acid derivatives. This review summarizes the latest advances in the development of new synthesis methods to access cyclic sulfinic acid derivatives in the last two decades. The synthetic strategies are reviewed by highlighting their product diversity, selectivity and applicability, and the mechanistic rationale is presented where possible. We wish to bring readers a comprehensive understanding of the state-of-play of cyclic sulfinic acid derivative formation and make a contribution to future research.