Tumour immunologists have made great strides in understanding the components of the successful immunotherapy of cancer. A coordinated interaction between helper and cytotoxic T lymphocytes results in an optimal effecter cell response followed by generation of immunological memory. The ability of each CD8+ cell to lyse the target through granzyme and perforin and not itself get killed, allows these cells to act at high efficiency. CTLs also play  an important role in tumor cell elimination. However, the poor antigenicity of tumor specific antigens and tumor associated antigens leads to inefficient activation of the antigen specific CTLs against any given tumor. Still, the proper and continued activation of antitumour T cells remains a crucial missing piece of the immunotherapy puzzle and a significant barrier in developing an effective therapeutic vaccine. The challenge now is to learn how to promote T cell activation and proliferation while abrogating T cell anergy and death in the context of a profoundly tolerogenic tumour environment. This review discusses various strategies which can be used to induce tumor specific CTL’s which can be exploited for the development of vaccines.