Abstract Conventional culture media are expensive owing to their constituents. Thus, several studies have sought to develop and evaluate the efficacy of alternative, low-cost culture media, in most cases, using natural and easily accessible raw materials. The present study is a literature review, observing various formulations of culture media based on products of plant origin for the growth of microorganisms and production of microbial compounds of industrial interest. In most formulations, vegetable substrates, such as soy, certain beans, corn, and rice, were used in addition to hortofruticultural products. Compared to conventional media, the alternative culture media often present satisfactory results in terms of microbial growth efficiency and production cost.