Photocatalytic oxidative desulphurization (PODS) has become an eye-catching green technology for fuel oil treatment because of its mild reaction conditions. The present review consists of the advantages and disadvantages of PODS catalysts and the characteristics of excellent PODS catalysts. Explicitly, detailed strategies for obtaining promising performance including the use of support materials, doping of metal elements, coupling with other suitable semiconductors, and the influence of other important criteria in PODS are deliberated to finalize a mechanistic study of an excellent PODS method. Besides, the future prospects and challenges are also included to highlight the unexplored potential of PODS criteria.