The immune system acting via cancer immune-surveillance is considered a potential target for improving outcomes among some malignancies. The ability to harness immune cells, engineer them and educate them to target cancer cells has changed the paradigm for treating non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has shown remarkable anti-tumor activity against refractory B cell malignancies. Ongoing research aims to expand the scope of this adoptive cell therapy, understanding mechanisms of resistance and reducing toxicity. In this review, we will discuss the current scope of CAR T-cell therapy and ongoing future applications.