Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) convert the energy present in wastewater to recover resources like bioelectricity, hydrogen, nutrients, heavy metals, minerals, and industrial chemicals. Various aspects of BES have been discussed here along with their applications and other advantages towards bioenergy recovery. More scientifically organized cross-discipline research efforts are required to scale-up these systems and to get benefit of recovering useful energy from waste materials. Full-scale implementation of bioelectrochemical wastewater treatment is complicated because certain microbiological, technological, and economic challenges need to be resolved that have not previously been encountered in any other wastewater treatment system. BES has higher prospects for in situ remediation of polluted water body or marshy soils and sediments. This technology is likely to evolve as a way of treating sewage, industrial, or agricultural wastewater, not only by lowering the amount of energy required, but at the same time producing electricity, hydrogen, or other chemicals of high value. Thus, after improving the performance of the BES, widening the scope for products recovery by developing better understanding of the process and with efforts to reduce its production cost, it can become a sustainable technology for treatment of wastewater with added advantage of recovery of resources and bioenergy. © 2017, Springer International Publishing AG.