Recent years have witnessed significant advancement in cycloaddition and cyclization strategies for the synthesis of monocyclic β-lactams. Cycloadditions include the Staudinger's keteneimine cycloaddtions and related reaction. Cyclization reactions are reported to furnish β-lactams through N 1 -C 2 , N 1 -C 4 and C 3 -C 4 bond formations employing substrates like β-amino esters, β-amino alcohols, β-hydroxamate esters, and α-amino diazocarbonyls, etc. Some other strategies are silyl carbonylation reactions, ring-enlargement of aziridines, cleavage of one ring of a bicyclic β-lactam, and functional group transformations on the β-lactam rings. Recently, some multi-component reactions have also been designed. This article reviews the advances made in synthetic approaches to monocyclic β-lactams during last five years.