An overview is reported about the history of prevailing direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) as a renewable green source of energy. Important features of the effect of: (1) operating DEFCs in alkaline media, (2) development of a suitable preparation method or technique of the catalyst to achieve more favorable dispersion and smaller particle size, (3) employing high surface area supports, (4) combining the catalyst with another metal, metal oxide, metal carbide or nitride, (5) addition of additives in the coating bath; on electrocatalytic performance of DEFCs are discussed.