Boron and aluminum share one main group, they are found in daily life commodities, and considered environmentally benign. Nevertheless, they markedly differ in their element properties (e.g. metal character, atomic radius). The use of Lewis acidic complexes of boron and aluminum for methods of bond activation and catalysis (e.g. hydrogenation of unsaturated substrates, polymerization of olefins and epoxides) is quickly expanding. The introduction of cationic charge may boost the metalloid-centered Lewis acidity and allows for its fine-tuning particularly with regard to preference for "hard" or "soft" Lewis bases (i.e. substrates). Especially, the isolation of low-coordinate cations (number of ligand atoms smaller than 4) demands for elaborate techniques of thermodynamic and kinetic stabilization (i.e. electronic saturation and steric shielding) by a ligand system. Furthermore, the properties of the solvent and the counteranion have to be considered with care. Herein, we revise selected examples for boron and aluminum cations.