<p>Plastic pollution has emerged as a critical environmental challenge due to the widespread use and persistence of synthetic polymers. With existing plastic disposal practices facing various challenges, the demand for greener and more effective approaches continues to grow. Microbial degradation of plastics has surfaced as a promising, environmentally sustainable approach. The mechanisms by which microbes contribute to plastic breakdown have been increasingly studied over the past decade. Now, studies are focusing on multi-omics and engineering approaches to identify new bacterial candidates for plastic biodegradation. This review addresses the growing issue of plastic pollution, with a focus on polyethylene (PE), the most widely produced plastic. It outlines various plastic types and highlights different degradation strategies, emphasizing biological degradation by bacteria as an eco-friendly solution for PE waste management. The review discusses both biotic and abiotic factors affecting microbial degradation, highlights the enzymes involved in PE degradation, and examines the effect of biofilm formation on degradation. It also explores the proposed mechanisms of PE biodegradation and the methods used to detect the degradation, with reference to recent advances in the field that enable more efficient discovery of PE-degrading enzymes and bacterial isolates. The review also summarizes the limitations that hinder the scaling up of the biodegradation approaches and proposes some recommendations for dealing with these limitations.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>