<p>With the change in climatic conditions and to overcome the growing demand for the production of food by 2050, it becomes essential to double worldwide production, which necessitates the development of novel crop varieties. This procedure, however, is laborious due to the long generation period. Speed breeding (SB) technology addresses this challenge by accelerating plant improvement by using controlled conditions, enabling the increase of several generations/year. SB enables the incorporation of innovative protocols like embryo rescue gene editing, marker assisted selection (MAS), rapid generation advancement (RGA) which further accelerate crop development. This technique has been successfully utilized to multiple crops enabling 4–6 generations every year. Due to its applicability to a varied range of crops as well as lesser labour requirements compared to traditional breeding approaches, SB presents a viable and effective solution for cultivating crops with extensive populations. SB becomes an exceptionally efficient and robust technique for rapidly creating new plant varieties. Significant progress has been made in cereals, oilseeds and vegetables, resulting in new cultivars with beneficial traits like increased protein content, disease resistance and enhanced tolerance to salt and drought conditions. In summary, SB provides a practical and revolutionary approach to crop improvement, significantly contributing to world-wide agricultural demand and helping to minimize the adverse effects of climate change on farming. The present review offers an overview of SB protocols through a variety of crops, highlighting their significance in addressing the limitations of traditional breeding approaches such as long generation cycles, vulnerability to the environmental fluctuations that slows down the crop improvement.</p>