Taxol (Paclitaxel), a tetracyclic diterpene, is a secondary metabolite of plant origin with antitumoral activity. It is synthesized by trees of the genus Taxus and it was first extracted from the bark of Taxus baccata in the 1960s, no other drug attracted so much media attention since. Its success in the treatment of a variety of cancers is of great importance. It binds to β-tubulin and disrupts the microtubular dynamics through inhibition of their depolymerization, unlike other microtubule targeting agents like vinblastine and vincristine which disable the polymerization. Cell apoptosis is caused by the arrest of the cell cycle but also by exerting effects on gene expression. Its extremely low natural occurence in the yew bark forced the search for alternative production sources such as harvesting it from cell culture, bacterial cultures, endophytes, total synthesis and semi-synthesis routes. Taxol has an extremely complicated biosynthesis pathway which has over 19 steps in total, and still today some of the enzymes involved have not been characterized. Besides that, main challenges for the future development and research include finding an economically viable microbial way of production, increasing bioavailability of the drug by nanotechnology without adverse effects on patients health.