A long-standing problem of conventional cancer chemotherapy is the lack of tumor specificity. Tumor-targeting drug-delivery systems have been explored to overcome this problem. These systems combine a powerful cytotoxic anticancer agent with a tumor-targeting molecule via a 'smart' linker to form highly efficacious drug conjugates. These drug conjugates can deliver potent cytotoxic drugs specifically to tumors and tumor cells with minimal systemic toxicity. This review describes our groups' research on the molecular approaches to the design and development of a novel drug-delivery system bearing highly potent new-generation taxoids for tumor-targeting chemotherapy in our laboratory.