The costly effluent disposal of alkaline cyanide-based electrolytes coupled with more stringent pollution laws has led to the appraisal of possible alkaline alternatives for the electrodepositon of zinc. Of these, zincate-based formulations appear to be promising. This review examined their present day use, solution electrochemistry, mechanism of deposiiton and the properties of zinc coatings formed from them. An appraisal of their effectiveness when compared to normal cyanide solutions is also made.