To meet ever increasing demand for food, feed and fiber, concurrent progress in the field of crop improvement should be followed. As one of the important concepts in conventional quantitative genetics and breeding, genetic gain can be defined as the amount of increase in the progeny performance of the selected individuals over the original population, achieved annually through artificial selection. Factors affecting genetic advance include genetic variation available in breeding materials, heritability for traits of interest, selection intensity, and the time required to complete a breeding cycle. Therefore, genetic gain can be enhanced by manipulating each component of breeder’s equation. Favorable genetic variation can be unlocked and created through molecular and genomic approaches including mutation, gene mapping and discovery and transgene and genome editing. Estimation of heritability can be improved by refining field experiments through well controlled and precisely assayed environmental factors, particularly for understanding and controlling spatial heterogeneity at the field level. Selection intensity can be significantly heightened through improvements in the scale and precision of genotyping and phenotyping. The breeding cycle time can be shortened by accelerating breeding procedures through advanced breeding approaches such as marker-assisted selection and DH production and RGA by shuttle breeding and speed breeding approaches. Consequently, genetic gain can be improved by employing modern breeding techniques and platforms, mainly driven by molecular and genomic tools, combined with improved agronomic practices to meet the global human demand by 2050.