Nowadays, energy consumption is progressively boosting in all sectors because of the rising in population and enhancing lifestyle. The dependency over fossil-based fuels has been increasing due to the ever-growing need for energy. The declining characterization of such energy sources and the increment nature of energy demand have led to vital apprehensions of energy regarding future energy safety. Keeping this in mind, the usage of alternative fuels such as biodiesel can be one of the possible solutions in order to accomplish the future energy demand. In this context, the biodiesel production is an attractive way for researchers. Biodiesel is non-toxic, biodegradable and renewable fuel that can be produced from vegetable oils, animal fats and also their wastes by applying different techniques. Contrary to the advantages, the biggest disadvantage of biodiesel is that costs are largely dependent on the feedstock. Although it has the nature of the food, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) can be utilized as a feedstock for biodiesel production because its oil consumption is limited and it can be grown in arid and dry areas all over the world. This review paper has presented a detailed overview of safflower plant, the physicochemical properties of safflower oil and its biodiesel, the performance, emission and combustion characteristics of the safflower oil biodiesel when used in a diesel engine. The findings of the present work revealed that biodiesel production from safflower oil is possible and the observations from the literature resulted in comparable fuel properties, engine performance and emission parameters with those of diesel. •This paper presents a comprehensive review of safflower as a potential biodiesel feedstock.•One of the countries that have the greatest potential to produce this crop on a commercial scale is Turkey.•High oil ratio and quality of its characteristics of the oil makes it a choice to produce biodiesel.•The physico-chemical characteristics of the safflower oil biodiesel are studied in a detail.•Safflower oil biodiesel and its blends can be used in different types of engines without any modification on the engine.