Creation of genetically modified Organisms (GMOs) to confer novel traits is an important milestone in biotechnology. However, public acceptance of GMOs has been slow due to several environmental concerns. In order to address environmental concerns, the chloroplast genetic engineering approach is being looked for. One of the biological containment strategies to reduce or prevent the flow of transgenes through pollen of most flowering crops is to incorporate the transgenes into the plant chloroplast instead of incorporating them into the plant nuclear genome. Chloroplast genome are inherited maternally through the egg and pollen does not contain plastids. Therefore chloroplast genes are only transmitted through the egg to the embryo and there will be no risk of dispersal of transgene through the pollen. Recently, much progress in plastid engineering has been made. In addition to model plant tobacco, many transplastomic crop plants have been generated which possess higher resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and molecular pharming. In this review, we will discuss the features of the plastid DNA and advantages of plastid transformation. We will also present some examples of transplastomic plants developed so far through plastid engineering, and the various applications of plastid transformation.