Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of plant materials began with industry and moved to the laboratory, along with supercritical‐fluid chromatography, as high pressure systems became available. SFE has been applied to several groups of non‐polar compounds, including essential oils, other flavour and fragrance compounds, medicinal compounds, lipids, carotenes and alkaloids. Each of these groups are reviewed in turn, together with the conditions used for their extraction. Information comparing the efficiency of SFE with solvent extraction or steam distillation would be valuable but is not always available. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.