Biomass-derived 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) with excellent energy density and satisfactory combustion performance holds great promise to meet the growing demands for transportation fuels and fuel additives to a certain extent. In this review, we summarized the relative merits of the EMF preparation from different feedstocks, such as platform chemicals, biomass sugars and lignocellulosic biomass. Advances for EMF synthesis over homogeneous (i.e. inorganic acids and soluble metal salts), heterogeneous catalysts (i.e. zeolites, heteropolyacid-based hybrids, sulfonic acid-functionalized catalysts, and others) or mixed-acid catalysts were performed as well. Additionally, the emerging development for the EMF production was also evaluated in terms of the different solvents system (i.e. single-phase solvents, biphasic solvents, ionic liquids, and deep eutectic solvents). It is concluded with current challenges and prospects for advanced biofuel EMF preparation in the future.