This review describes the recent advancement of transition metal-catalyzed aromatic carbon-boron bond construction processes. The efficacy of palladium, nickel and copper catalysis are comparatively illustrated. Particular focus is placed on the application of ligands, for instance tailor-made phosphines and carbenes that can effectively enable the borylation of challenging and sterically demanding substrates. Selected applications of this methodology for the synthesis of pharmaceutically useful and materially interesting molecules are mostly documented. This review includes literatures up to late 2012.