Sweeteners have always been an important ingredient in frozen desserts. Their manifold functions include imparting a sweet taste and thus palatability, contribute to the nutritive value, balance the fattiness, provide bulk and body, control ice crystallisation, enable the mix to be whipped and frozen simultaneously by bringing about suitable depression in the freezing point of the mix, enhance the flavour and improve the shelf life of the product. Traditionally sucrose, 36 or 42 DE corn sugar, invert sugar, dextrose and honey have been used extensively. However, increased sucrose prices coupled with quantity limitations in the use of corn sugar plus new technology breakthroughs in corn sugar refining have promoted the frozen dessert manufacturers to consider modifying the sweetener combinations as a cost savings exercise. Nowadays, we find high maltose corn sugar (HMCS), high fructose corn sugar (HFCS) and polyols steadily replacing sucrose in ice cream formulations. Further, the sweetening substitutes are gaining prominence in the formulation of dietetic and diabetic ice creams. The technological properties, sweetness and physiological effects of sugars commonly used in frozen desserts are reviewed in comparison with newer sweeteners such as glucose-fructose syrup, HMCS, HFCS, whey-derived sweeteners, polyols, glycerol, inulin and a few intense sweeteners.