Environmental pollution of heavy metals, either from anthropogenic sources or natural disasters, adversely affects the natural ecosystems. Accumulation of heavy metals include nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co) and chromium (Cr) in agricultural soils, irrigation waters, and drinking water. It has become a serious threat to the worldwide food security as well as human and animal health. Although some conventional methods are being used but most of them are neither cost-effective nor up to mark in efficiency. Recently, there has been increased interest in the use of microbes associated with legume plants for bioremediation of heavy metals. These microorganisms have developed various strategies for their survival in heavy metal-polluted habitats, and are known to develop and adopt different detoxifying mechanisms such as biosorption, bioaccumulation, biotransformation and biomineralization. Along with the microorganisms, plant based remediation strategy, phytoremediation, has also proved itself to be an important strategy for the removal of the heavy metal from the environment where living part can be considered as a solar-driven pump, which can extract toxic elements from the contaminated soil. This review discusses the heavy metal toxicity issues, metalmicrobes interactions, and mechanisms used by plants for remediation of these pollutants. Additionally, emphasis has been on a newer approach of fusion of traditional microbiology, biochemistry, ecology and genetic engineering as a promising and sustainable solution for removal of heavy metals from the environment.