The past decade has seen ever-increasing interest in the catalytic aerobic oxidation of alcohols, which is one of the pivotal functional group transformations in organic chemistry. Nevertheless, most of the current methods for alcohol oxidation are not catalytic, hence the use of catalysts and green oxidants such as O2 or air, instead of stoichiometric quantities of inorganic oxidants, will provide a highly desirable approach to this reaction. This chapter summarizes the latest breakthroughs in the use of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts in aerobic alcohol oxidation in the liquid phase; the use of microwaves and photochemistry to assist and promote catalytic activities is also highlighted. Moreover, since nanoparticle systems may be considered an interesting compromise between heterogeneous and homogeneous catalytic systems, the recent development of soluble transition metal colloids as active nanocatalysts for aerobic alcohol oxidation is also presented.