Linear α-olefins, especially 1-hexene and 1-octene, are key components for the production of LLDPE and the demand for 1-hexene and 1-octene increased enormously in recent years. To meet this demand several processes were developed in the last decade to produce 1-hexene and 1-octene selectively. Here we review the new processes for 1-octene production based on homogeneous catalysts. Sasol’s coal-based high temperature Fischer-Tropsch technology produces an Anderson-Schulz-Flory distribution of hydrocarbons with high α-olefin content and the desired alkenes, including 1-heptene and 1-octene, are separated by distillation. In this case, as in the SHOP process, 1-octene constitutes only a minor part of the total yield. Nowadays other technologies are being applied or considered for on-purpose 1-octene production: hydroformylation of 1-heptene, the telomerization of 1,3-butadiene, and ethene tetramerization. 1-Heptene can be converted in three steps to 1-octene: (1) hydroformylation of 1-heptene to octanal, (2) hydrogenation of octanal to 1-octanol, and (3) dehydration of 1-octanol to 1-octene. This process was commercialized by Sasol. Dow commercialized a process based on butadiene. Telomerization of butadiene with methanol in the presence of a palladium catalyst yields 1-methoxy-2,7-octadiene, which is fully hydrogenated to 1-methoxyoctane in the next step. Subsequent cracking of 1-methoxyoctane gives 1-octene and methanol for recycle. Recently highly active and stable phosphine based systems were reported that show particularly good performance for the industrially attractive feedstock, the C4 cut of the paraffin cracker. 1-Hexene can be obtained by ethene trimerization by a family of catalysts based mainly on Cr. High selectivity to 1-hexene can be achieved thanks the propensity of the chromium based catalyst to form 7-membered ring metallacycles. Sasol has found catalyst systems that allow the formation of a 9-membered metallacycle in large proportion relative to 7-membered ring formation, yielding 1-octene.