The general secretory (Sec) pathway comprises an essential, ubiquitous and universal export machinery for most proteins that integrate into, or translocate through, the plasma membrane. Sec exportome polypeptides are synthesized as pre-proteins that have cleavable signal peptides fused to the exported mature domains. Recent advances have re-evaluated the interaction networks of pre-proteins with chaperones that are involved in pre-protein targeting from the ribosome to the SecYEG channel and have identified conformational signals as checkpoints for high-fidelity targeting and translocation. The recent structural and mechanistic insights into the channel and its ATPase motor SecA are important steps towards the elucidation of the allosteric crosstalk that mediates secretion. In this Review, we discuss recent biochemical, structural and mechanistic insights into the consecutive steps of the Sec pathway - sorting and targeting, translocation and release - in both co-translational and post-translational modes of export. The architecture and conformational dynamics of the SecYEG channel and its regulation by ribosomes, SecA and pre-proteins are highlighted. Moreover, we present conceptual models of the mechanisms and energetics of the Sec-pathway dependent secretion process in bacteria.