Colorants are mainly used to impart a distinctive appearance to each step of our lives. They are present everywhere in the nature. In mainly edible things like vegetables, fruits and animals also. Pigments can also be prepared synthetically in the laboratory. Both natural and synthetic pigments are used in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products to impart their color as well as pharmacological effect exerted by them. Synthetic pigments getting less popular due to their health concerns. Here to use natural pigments it become very important to know its every aspect. Here we have selected four major pigments obtained from natural edible sources and tried to summarize them like chlorophyll, carotenoids, anthocyanins and betalains etc. They can also be obtained from sources other than plants like bacteria and algae. They are having multiple uses along with their coloring properties. They can be extracted and separated. So the present review reflects distribution, functions, extraction, separation and other special concerns of above said pigments.