Tulips are mainly grown for cut flowers as well as in gardens and landscaped areas. There is a huge number of cultivars, with more than 130 new ones registered each year. Cross-pollination remains the main breeding method, despite it being the slowest and labor-intensive technique. Additionally, it is limited by species incompatibility. Obtaining polyploids is also a challenging process, hence the majority of cultivars are still diploids, and a small group are triploids. Mutation breeding is an important tool to obtain new tulip cultivars. The progress in breeding in recent years has been tremendous in terms of flower shape, color and fullness, and their number on the stem. Blue tulips have yet to be obtained, what remains a challenge for growers. The trait that determines a cultivar’s suitability for cut flower cultivation is flower longevity and suitability for hydroponic cultivation and mechanization of harvesting, which is determined by uniform growth and flowering. A challenge also arises from climate change, which necessitates increasing the tolerance of tulips to higher winter temperatures, which can lead to disorders in flower development. An important goal of breeding is to increase resistance to viruses, particularly TBV, fungal diseases, and pests. Currently, the greatest challenge for scientists is the identification of the tulip genome sequence, which is one of the largest and most complex among those already estimated for plants. It might allow breeding of new cultivars and transformation of genes that enhance pathogen resistance, what would facilitate sustainable production in the future.