Mushroom cultivation has great scope in India and in other developing countries because of the economical and easy availability of raw materials. The production of mushroom in India has enormously increased and attained the status of commercial crop. During the last two decades, cultivation of mushrooms has become popular worldwide because of the wide choice of species for cultivation under different agro climatic conditions and the ease of cultivation on different types of lignocellulosic materials. Considering these factors mushroom was emphasized in this review to depict the worldwide production and cultivation, nutritive value, therapeutic profile and the postharvest changes incurred in mushrooms. Though fresh mushrooms have limited shelf life after harvesting, various methods for appropriate packaging and storage conditions to enhance the shelf life and for processing into acceptable products can salvage the perishability of mushroom.