In the past, poultry nutrition has focussed on increasing the production efficiency to meet the progress achieved in the genetic potential of broilers and layers. Future directions in poultry nutrition will be driven by not only by the need to maximise biological and economic performance of birds, but also by societal issues (environment, antibiotic growth promoters, welfare, traceability and use of genetically modified ingredients). Key advances in poultry nutrition are discussed and future directions, which can be expected, are highlighted. Given the tightening supply and ever-increasing cost of raw materials, there will be more pressure to extract every unit of energy and nutrients from feed ingredients. In this context, a number of feed additives are expected to play an increasingly significant role. Feed enzymes and crystalline amino acids, in particular, will have a profound effect on future sustainability of the poultry industry. Future nutritional research need to focus on identifying the barriers to effective digestion and utilisation of nutrients and, to achieve this objective, nutritionists must combine their expertise with those of specialising in other biological sciences, including immunology, microbiology, histology and molecular biology.