A survey is done to gain a general idea in the development of various nickel based anode electrocatalysts for ethanol electrooxidation reaction. Platinum and other noble metal electrocatalysts are very well known but their cost and scarcity is a major issue hampering its use on a commercial level. Apart from cost, the poisoning of noble metal electrocatalysts due to CO is also another issue. These issues can be tackled by partially or fully replacing the noble metal electrocatalysts by non-noble metal electrocatalysts. The use of electrocatalytically active non-noble metal like nickel provides an excellent alternative. Hence, major thrust is laid upon the use of nickel in the form of either as a single or a complementary element in the electrocatalysts containing two (binary), three (ternary), four (quaternary) or more noble and/or non-noble metals to improve the electrocatalytic activity for ethanol electrooxidation reaction. The quality of an electrocatalyst is decided on a number of factors. Onset potential and current density are the two main parameters representing the activity of electrocatalysts. Complete oxidation of ethanol to give CO2 is a major requirement to extract maximum current. Literature survey shows that support, synthesis approaches and elemental compositions greatly contributes to enhance the electrocatalytic performance of nickel based electrocatalysts towards ethanol electrooxidation reaction. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.