Abstract: Human skin acts as a barrier, thermo regulator and prevents excess water loss from internal organs. Various ways of transferring drugs have been developed by altering the barrier properties of the skin. Improvement of skin penetration, partitioning and solubility effects through hydration of the stratum corneum or the use of chemical enhancers acting on lipids and keratinized structures in the stratum corneum is a promising tool in potential clinical applications. Penetration enhancement is a new emerging technology that has the potential to increase the amount of trans-dermally administered drugs. Also drugs with short biological half-lives can be easily administered. Among the many advantages over other routes, three important ones are avoidance of hepatic metabolism, minimal adverse effects, and increased bioavailability. The stratum corneum prevents the loss of physiologically essential substances and consequently provides penetration resistance by acting as a protective barrier. This is the rate-limiting step for absorption of the drug percutaneously. In this review article, we summarize the various advances made in the field of access enhancers based on a literature survey of various research articles.