In recent times, attempts have been made to produce eco-friendly sound exceptional resin compounds from natural renewable resources. Among the diverse renewable available sources, vegetable oils obtained from various seeds are considered the best natural sources, due to their novel characteristics, worldwide abundance and functionalities. However, the alkyd resins synthesized from available vegetable oils are still limited in properties. This review focused on the several modification routes that have been utilized in the synthesis of solvents and water based alkyd resins, the impacts on their coating properties and challenges of using alkyd coatings. Literature analysis reveals that modifications of solvents based alkyd resins and water-borne alkyd resins have immensely improved their potential applications in the field of paints and coatings. Properties like adhesion, drying time, gloss retention, resistance to scratch, chemical resistance capability in various corrosive environments, thermal stability, flexibility, roughness, hardness, abrasion resistance, mechanical properties, etc., were improved by modifying solvent based alkyd resin and water based alkyd resin with gum rosin, acrylate, n-butyl methacrylate, maleican hydride, silicon oxide (SiO2), titanium oxide (TiO2), etc. Also, waterborne coatings have been shown to be a more environmentally friendly coating when compared to solvent based coatings. However, water based alkyd resin is more eco-friendly than the solvent based alkyd resin; as a consequence, they emit little or no contaminant that can be detrimental to the environment.
