Anhydrosugars provide a valuable source of building blocks for the synthesis of a wide range of compounds of interest, from natural products to medicines. The unique reactivity of these functionalized, homochiral synthons is controlled by the 1,6-anhydro bridge which locks the conformation of the pyranose ring, provides a dual protection of two hydroxyl groups, and either protects or activates the anomeric position. The concomitant release of the primary hydroxyl group at C-6 during the ring-opening step limits protecting group manipulations and enables the design of highly convergent synthetic strategies. In recent years, many examples of stereocontrolled ring-opening of 1,6-anhydrosugars by a diversity of nucleophiles, including hetero-and C-nucleophiles, have been reported. The purpose of this review is to present an overview of the recent advances, applications and challenges associated with this process.