Despite tremendous socioeconomic and technical advancement, around a quarter of the world's population still uses orthodox fuels (such as kerosene, biomass waste, firewood, natural gas, animal dung and coal) for home usage. Waste-to-energy (WTE) is an auspicious alternative source of energy that is both ecologically and economically sustainable. The current study examined the global landscape of WTE technology choices (pyrolysis, incineration, anaerobic digestion, gasification and landfilling with recovery of gas) as well as the difficulties faced by both industrialized and developing nations. The most common method, incineration, is challenging to employ in sparsely populated places since it needs a lot of garbage to be effective (100,000 tonnes per year). The implementing authorities and policy makers involved in Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) will find this review useful in understanding the existing situation, difficulties and impediments to efficient municipal solid waste management. This analysis came to the conclusion that WTE is a possible source of renewable energy that might help with MSWM and partially fulfil energy demand.