Linseed, one of the oldest crops having been cultivated since the beginning of civilization with more than 10,000 years of history, is believed to have originated in the Middle East or Indian regions. Varietal development in linseed in India was mostly targeted towards cultivars with high seed yield and oil content with inbuilt resistance to major biotic stresses such as rust, wilt, Alternaria blight, powdery mildew and bud fly. Till date, 102 varieties have been released in the country for different agro-ecologies and most of these varieties are developed either through selections from introductions or hybridizations of intraspecific crosses. Pedigree breeding including bulk pedigree breeding methods were widely adopted for the development of varieties. Owing to the uniqueness of the seed oil rich in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), attempts are being made globally to develop cultivars with high as well as low-ALA content to exploit it for edible, nutraceutical and industrial purposes. Genetic variation for ALA exists in the cultivar germplasm and also the wild Linum species and germplasm possessing ALA up to 70% has been reported in many countries. Few stable elite breeding lines with high ALA (>60%) have also been developed and patented but genetic markers associated with high ALA still remain elusive, which hinders the linseed improvement programme through marker-assisted selection (MAS). On the contrary, mutation breeding in combination with conventional breeding resulted in the development of low-ALA (2–4%) and high linoleic acid (LIO) (>50%) lines that were proven effective in improving the oxidative stability and suitability of linseed oil for a variety of food uses. The role of fatty acid desaturase-3 genes viz., LuFAD3A and LuFAD3B which had point mutations causing premature stop codons in the mutant lines resulting in non-functional FAD3 enzymatic activity was also established. Candidate QTLs for important agro-morphological traits including oil and its quality traits were identified, varying from one for oil to three for linoleic acid and α-linolenic acids. However, exploiting these genomic regions for selective advantage through breeding is rather slow and high throughput techniques for routine use are yet to be developed. A few key grey areas which are very important in linseed improvement for its multi-use in various industries are also reviewed and discussed in this chapter.