<p>Dead-end trap cropping is a particular case of trap cropping involving trap crop plants on which targeted insect pests cannot survive. Dead-end trap crops can function as a sink for pests, preventing their movement from the trap crop to the main crop, thus greatly reducing reliance on pesticide applications. Wintercress <i>Barbarea vulgaris</i> Aiton (Brassicaceae) and vetiver grass <i>Chrysopogon zizanioides</i> (L.) Roberty (Poaceae) are among the plant species most-studied as dead-end trap crops for diamondback moth <i>Plutella xylostella</i> L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) and the stemborers <i>Chilo partellus</i> Swinhoe (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) and <i>S. inferens</i> Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), respectively. Additional dead-end crops target important pests like cotton bollworm, corn earworm, green peach aphid, western tarnished plant bug, root-knot and root-lesion nematodes, silverleaf whitefly, and different species of fruit flies and thrips. Besides the inherent characteristics of a plant species that make it naturally function as a dead-end trap crop, such as the presence of particular plant secondary metabolites, other types of dead-end trap crops involve the use of transgenesis and the use of biological control agents. This article reviews the topic of dead-end trap cropping, providing also an explanation of some of the mechanisms involved and the factors that affect the successful implementation of this type of trap cropping.</p>