Transformation of industrial waste carbon-based materials and biomass are attracted greatly interest in academia and industrial owing to several potential applications. These also depict promising routes for resolving environmental impact from the above-mentioned wasted materials. Physical or chemical activations are usually employed for transforming scrap tire and biomass into activated carbons (AC) with high specific surface area and porous structures. The former is proceeded by steam or carbon dioxide; the latter is completed with several chemicals, e.g. KOH, H_3PO_4, NaOH, etc. Here, we systematically introduce recent advancements of AC derived from scrap tire and agricultural biomass and their applications in dye adsorption, supercapacitors, and heavy metal removers. These studies not only give new concepts for looking new precursors of AC, but also provide promising ways to save our planet in reducing environmental wastes.