Nucleophilic phosphine catalysis has proven to be a powerful tool in organic synthesis, which can provide easy access to cyclic, bicyclic or polycyclic carbocycles and heterocycles. Owing to their comparatively strong and readily tunable nucleophilicity, phosphines can be easily tailored to efficient annulation reactions with good control over reaction selectivity. This has resulted in a tremendous increase in their scope and in a concomitant number of reports where phosphine-triggered annulation reactions occur. This tutorial review summarizes the recent achievements in this area.