Historic as well as new developments in chemistry of metallocenyl-containing porphyrins, phthalocyanines, naphthalocyanines, tetraazaporphyrins, subphthalocyanines, subporphyrins, BODIPYs, azaBODIPYs, and related systems were overviewed. Synthetic pathways for preparation as well as the redox and photophysical properties of metallocenyl-type compounds in which organometallic substituents connected to the respective core π-system via (i) equatorial covalent bond; (ii) axial covalent or coordination bond; (iii) β, β’-fusion into the aromatic system; (iv) η5- or η6-bonds to the central metal ion are discussed.