γ-Amino-β-hydroxy acids are essential components of natural products exhibiting various biological activities. The use of enantio-pure α-amino acids as starting materials led to straightforward syntheses. However, their versatility is limited by the availability of these starting compounds. To overcome this difficulty, other procedures were developed, which either start from other chiral pools or use synthetic enantio-enriched building blocks. This review deals with these various approaches pointing out their scope and limitations.