In the present scenario, civilization wholly depends on energy generation and storage for better technological progress and extension in several scientific applications. Owing to limited conventional energy sources and high energy requirement, absolute, cost-effective, and eco-friendly substitute roots of energy are of the principal interest. In this direction, direct alcohol fuel cell is becoming more familiar and promising because of its straightforward configuration system, weight, and elevated power generation efficiency. Indeed, recent years have seen extensive research on the preparation and properties of the fuel cell system. The literature review presented in this article provides comprehensive information on electrooxidation of alcohol developed on different type of electrocatalyst. The integration of a range of nanomaterials is depicted to comprehend the effect of different properties such as a well-ordered porous structure, exemplary high specific surface areas, electronic conductivity, tremendous convenience to active sites, and improved mass transport for electrooxidation of fuel cell. In this article, we have presented a detailed review of fuel cells and defined the main perspective, rationale and motivation, research tasks, and objectives of study as well as the delimitation of the study. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd