<p>Many pharmaceutical compounds are derived from plant-based secondary metabolites and form the basis for numerous drugs such as digoxin, morphine, paclitaxel, and others. The production of secondary metabolites from cultured cells and hairy roots is an overriding potential alternative and a perennial source. But, their accumulation by and large depends on the extent of impact that biotic and abiotic elicitors bring about on the specific biosynthetic pathway, and ultimate feedback regulation. A large number of abiotic elicitors influence the whole gamut of pathways but depend on the concentration of the elicitor, duration of treatment, growth stage of suspension or hairy roots, and the plant species. Concomitantly, it is also vital to see if the elicitors have the ability to permeabilize the cells so as to improve the dramatic accumulation of bioactive compounds in the spent medium. Ultrasonication, pulsed electric fields, and co-culture of plant cells are emerging and promising areas that need more attention and exploitation. Accordingly, we reviewed some of the chemical and physical permeabilizing agents that aid in the release of these compounds from the cells into the medium. Despite scores of efforts by the researchers, many pharmaceutically important products could not be taken to a bioreactor level or to a commercial stage barring a few like berberine, paclitaxel, shikonin, and others. Here, we review the current scenario and bring an update with regard to the supremacy of biotic (including rare polysaccharides) and abiotic (including rare earth metals, but not phytohormones) elicitors on the pile-up of some important secondary plant products in the cultured cells and hairy roots.</p>