Many high-value metabolites are produced in nature by organisms that are not ideal for large-scale production. Therefore, interest exists in expressing the biosynthetic pathways of these compounds in organisms that are more suitable for industrial production. Recent years have seen developments in both the discovery of various biosynthetic pathways, as well as development of metabolic engineering tools that allow reconstruction of complex pathways in microorganisms. In the present review we discuss recent advances in reconstruction of the biosynthetic pathways of various high-value products in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a commonly used industrial microorganism. Key achievements in the production of different isoprenoids, aromatics and polyketides are presented and the metabolic engineering strategies underlying these accomplishments are discussed.