In the past two decades, genomic and molecular tools had been used as vital part of modern plant breeding to accelerate selection and development of parents and progeny of desired characteristics. In this review, the fruitful discussion of fundamental components of plant molecular breeding had been summarized i.e. the development of molecular marker, construction of genetic and physical map, identification of molecular markers associated with genes/QTLs (qualitative trait loci), mapping of quantitative trait loci and finally utilization of molecular markers in modern plant breeding approaches. Moreover, previous scientific reports on qualitative and quantitative trait mapping, current progress of markers assisted breeding, applications, achievements and future perspectives of molecular assisted breeding are discussed.