Modern lifestyles create plentiful opportunities for malodour generation and proliferation. A domestic dwelling provides a number of micro‐environments in which a range of malodour‐producing activities such as laundry, food preparation and necessary bodily functions take place. With a significant proportion of time spent indoors, there is increasing exposure to these micro‐environments. Knowledge of the chemical composition and, in particular, the key malodour components present in these situations, is crucial to understand how to limit their impact. This is a multi‐disciplinary undertaking, encompassing analytical measurements, physical–organic chemistry, biology and sensory evaluation. As a consequence information can be dispersed over a number of sources in the literature and is not always readily recognizable as malodour related. The current review addresses this situation, examining the state of knowledge of household malodour composition, covering in detail areas such as food preparation and disposal, indoor air concentrations and building emissions, and body effluents. Examples to illustrate these areas are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.