In recent decades, CO2 utilization has become increasingly important in view of the escalating global warming phenomenon. In view of this, conversion of CO2 to syngas via CO2 (dry) reforming of methane (DRM) reaction has been gaining prominent research interest. This paper presents a review on the kinetic and mechanistic aspects for DRM reaction with focus on Ni based catalysts. Ni-based catalysts are commercially attractive due to the low cost and wide availability of Ni metal. Kinetic studies over the Ni based catalysts are vital in scaling up of the DRM process in order to assess its industrial viability. Many differing opinions have been formed for the rate determining steps (RDS) of the reaction kinetics. In this review, a survey of the differing RDS presented in literature based on the widely used Langmuir Hinshelwood Hougen Watson (LHHW) models for Ni-catalyzed DRM reactions are categorized and presented along with the importance of experimental techniques for justifying mechanistic formulation. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.