Abstract: The normal cell has its own homeostatic mechanism. A slight deviation in this mechanism leads firstly to an adaptive response in the form of hypertrophy, atrophy etc. But sometimes when adaptive response exceeds a limit also culminates to cell injury which ultimately leads to cell death. Irreversible form of cell injury leads to cell death in the form of necrosis, apoptosis and autophagy and by other alternative ways of necroptosis, anoikis, entosis and cornification. Necrosis and apoptosis are main mechanisms of cell death in mammalian cells. Necrosis is accidental, uncontrolled and un-programmed cell death which leads to cellular swelling, pyknosis, karyolysis, karyorrhexis, disruption of cell membrane and inflammation. Apoptosis is a programmed and energy dependent pathophysiological phenomenon leading to cellular shrinkage but no cell membrane rupture and no inflammatory response. Apoptosis can be mediated by extrinsic, intrinsic and perforin/granzyme pathways, leading to activation of execution caspases and finally protein cleavage, cross linking and DNA-fragmentation. Extrinsic pathway involve ligand (FasL, TNFα) and receptors (FasR, TNFR) interaction which bind to adapter proteins Fas Associated Death Domain (FADD) and TNFα Receptor Associated Death Domain (TRADD) with activation of initiator caspases-8. Intrinsic pathway involves cytochrome c release along with pro-apoptotic proteins and inhibits anti-apoptotic proteins, leads to cytochrome c interaction with Apaf-1, thus activation of pro-caspase-9. Overall, cell death have clarified many aspects of this fundamental process and brought to the attention of scientists its role in a large number of different diseases. The present review describes apoptosis and other alternate mechanisms of cell death with biomedical and veterinary perspectives.