After the initial seminal works of Sophus Lie on ordinary differential equations, several important results on point symmetry group analysis of ordinary differential equations have been obtained. In this review, we present the salient features of point symmetry group classification of scalar ordinary differential equations: linear nth‐order, second‐order equations as well as related results. The main focus here is the contributions of Peter Leach, in this area, in whose honour this paper is written on the occasion of his 65th birthday celebrations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.