Food waste management has been a colossal concern throughout the globe due to its perilous impact on the environment. It has led to the search of innovative extraction methods for the recovery of bioactives from wastes. An understanding of sustainability and the need for efficient waste valorization, especially in the food industry, is an area of paramount interest. Most of the wastes generated as a result of the processing of fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, fish, etc. are potential sources of bioactive ingredients but remain either underutilized or unused. Utilizing proper techniques for the extraction of compounds like polyphenols, flavonoids, essential oils, etc. can be highly beneficial in terms of health, economy, and environment. Among various methods, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has been a remarkable technique that offers a greener and efficient approach to recover bioactive compounds from food waste. SFE system consists of finely tuned sophisticated machinery that operates under multiple factors such as temperature, pressure, co-solvents, etc. The SFE process consists of some major steps, i.e., the selection and procurement of food wastes, pretreatment of the waste, interaction with the solvent, application of appropriate pressure and temperature, removal of solvent, and collection of the targeted bioactive components. High initial setup costs and the need for optimization of various parameters are the main challenges associated with SFE. Evaluating the effectiveness of SFE in comparison to other conventional methods and its relevance to sustainable practices in the food industry and other sectors is of great significance.