BACKGROUND Severity of microbial infections and escalating resistance towards antibiotics has created a deep necessity for discovery of novel anti-infective agents. Heterocyclic chemistry of benzothiazole has become one of the most prolific areas in the field of drug discovery and development that has attracted great attention in recent time due to its increasing importance in the field of pharmaceuticals. METHODS The importance of benzothiazole and derivatives as potential antimicrobial agents has been well established and a large number of papers have been published in this regard. RESULTS The present communication is an earnest attempt to review the chemistry, synthetic aspects including click chemistry and antimicrobial activities of benzothiazole derivatives reported in recent scientific literature. CONCLUSIONS The scientific information of this manuscript may be worthwhile in encouraging the prospective researchers working on this heterocyclic scaffold.