<p>Sugarcane breeding in South Africa started in 1925 after imported cultivars failed to adapt to local growing conditions and succumbed to pests and diseases. This review evaluates the progress and achievements from a century of sugarcane breeding. Research into flowering, pollen viability and photoperiod treatments enabled South Africa to make crosses evaluated across irrigated, coastal and midlands regional breeding programs. There was progress from mass selection, proven cross to family evaluation where progeny selection is optimized using logistic regression methods. Cross breeding has progressed from proven parent to using breeding values and heterosis that is expected increased cane yield by 20 to 30%. Achievements include increasing population genetic gains for sugar yield by 0.77% to 2.70% per year, releasing 82 cultivars (including the legendary NCo310 and NCo376), and sugar yield genetic gains of 0.05 to 0.08 tons/ha per year. Cultivars released after 2010 produced up to 22% higher sugar yield, 15 to 33% lower eldana rating and 15 to 26% lower smut rating than those released before 2010. Percolation and density testing of cultivars increased sugar extraction. Improved breeding and selection efficiency produced cultivars that increased sugar yield while reducing yield loss to eldana damage and smut infection.</p>