More than 12,000 alkaloids are known in plants, mostly used as medicine with a world market value of about 4 billion US$. Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the most important economic source of morphinane alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, thebaine, narcotine and papaverine that are exploited by the pharmaceutical industry as analgesics, antitussives and anti-spasmodics. With regard to increasing demand for these compounds, the aim of this review is presenting an outlook of classical breeding programs that successfully applied for enhancing the alkaloid content of opium poppy. The latest biotechnological approaches also are discussed to give an outlook for future trends and possibilities.