•Identification and evaluation of the critical factors in the remanufacturing using fuzzy DEMATEL technique.•Design for the manufacturing, collection strategy, management prescience, and purchase intention emerge as top factors.•Government policies, technology, sorting policies and identity of the remanufacturer also possess the notable influence.•Design for remanufacturing and government regulations show the maximum number of relationships.•Inventory control and scheduling exhibit minimum number of relationships. Remanufacturing is the vital component of the circular economy, which helps in harnessing the environmental, economic, and social benefits by extending the life cycle of end-of-life and end-of-use items. Remanufacturing is being practiced successfully in the developed states like the USA, UK, and Germany for various products while developing nations such as India, Brazil, and China are attempting to begin the remanufacturing on an enormous scale. This paper intends to identify and evaluate the critical factors which possess a significant influence on the remanufacturing. Authors have employed fuzzy DEMATEL method to establish the causal relationship among the critical factors and to determine the degree of importance of a factor. The results reveal that design for the manufacturing, collection strategy, management prescience, and purchase intention are the top factors which impact the remanufacturing most. Moreover, government policies, technology, sorting policies, and identity of the remanufacturer also possess a notable influence on the remanufacturing. It is also observed that design for remanufacturing and government regulations show the maximum number of relationships with other factors while inventory control and scheduling do not exhibit any relationships. Further, this paper provides valuable insights to the decision makers so that a firm may spearhead the remanufacturing business to maintain the circularity in the economy.