The unique physicochemical properties of ionic liquids (ILs) and the ease with which these properties can be varied by altering the cationic or anionic constituent of the IL have led to widespread interest in their use as alternatives to conventional organic solvents in a host of synthetic, catalytic, and electrochemical applications. Recently, increased attention has been directed toward the application of ionic liquids in various separation processes, among them the liquid-liquid extraction of metal ions. Although certain IL-extractant combinations have been shown to yield metal ion extraction efficiencies far greater than those obtained with molecular organic solvents, other work suggests that the utility of ILs may be limited by solubilization losses and difficulty in recovering extracted metal ions. In this presentation, recent efforts to overcome these limitations are described, and progress both in achieving an improved understanding of the fundamental aspects of metal ion transfer into ILs and in devising viable IL-based systems for metal ion separation is detailed. In addition, areas that could benefit from additional research effort are identified.