Abstract The world today is faced with serious global warming and environmental pollution. Besides, fossil fuel will become rare and faces serious shortage in the near future. This has triggered the awareness to find alternative energy as their sustainable energy sources. Biodiesel as a cleaner renewable fuel has been considered as the best substitution for diesel fuel due to it being used in any compression ignition engine without any modification. The main advantages of using biodiesel are its renewability and better quality of exhaust gas emissions. This paper reviews the production, performance and emission of palm oil, Jatropha curcas and Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel. Palm oil is one of the most efficient oil bearing crops in terms of oil yield, land utilization, efficiency and productivity. However, competition between edible oil sources as food with fuel makes edible oil not an ideal feedstock for biodiesel production. Therefore, attention is shifted to non-edible oil like Jatropha curcas and Calophyllum inophyllum. Calophyllum inophyllum oil can be transesterified and being considered as a potential biodiesel fuel. Compared to Palm oil and Jatropha biodiesel industry, biodiesel from Calophyllum inophyllum is still in a nascent state. Therefore, long term endurance research and tribological studies need to be carried out before Calophyllum inophyllum oil base biodiesel can become an alternative fuel in future.