Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play an important role in many physiological and pathological processes. MMP inhibitors have been considered as potential therapeutics for neoplasitc, rheumatic and cardiovascular diseases. Our group and others have been developing pyrrolidine scaffold-based MMP inhibitors for a number of years, and numerous compounds have been reported in the literature. These compounds can be classified as sulfonamide pyrrolidine derivatives, proline-containing peptidomimetics and acyl pyrrolidine derivatives. These synthetic MMP inhibitors show low nanomolar activity for some MMP subclasses, thus confirming pyrrolidine ring an excellent scaffold from which to design MMP inhibitors. This review will focus primarily on the structure, activity and selectivity profiles of pyrrolidine scaffold-based MMP inhibitors.