Alpine ecosystems comprise unique plant communities with diverse floral characteristics and growth habits with adaptations to low temperatures and partial pressure of gases and short growing season, and therefore are particularly rich in secondary metabolites. The floral community of the alpines is shaped by a number of abiotic and biotic factors often working in interaction with each other. These factors are significant determinants of the growth, metabolism, and structure of a plant community. Changes in any of the factors owing mostly to the anthropogenic and/or natural reasons might alter the overall dynamics of the alpine community. The present review thus focuses and discusses the factors that influence alpine vegetation and the changes that have been studied in alpine communities along altitudinal and habitat gradient in relation to the biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem.