Population migration has accelerated urbanization in recent decades, boosting construction activity in major cities in India. Further, it is not possible to satisfy the need for raw materials with increasing demand. Besides, the mining activity for raw materials in the production of conventional red bricks has a considerable impact on the environment, which emphasizes the necessity to adopt alternative materials, i.e. industrial wastes. In this context, many researchers reported varying degrees of success in replacing conventional bricks with alternative materials prepared from industrial waste. The current study intends to review the status of industrial waste and its application in construction activity, especially masonry components to date. It is revealed from the study that most of the researchers employed cement-based blocks, which comprise fly ash as a partial replacement. However, further studies are in need of an hour to replace the cement fully, which recedes an environmental footprint and consumes industrial waste in huge quantities. In addition, an attempt was made to compare the sustainability of different masonry materials in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and embodied energies. The current study provides information to the readers related to the status of research on implying waste materials in the masonry component of a structure.