Inadequate space in urban settings has set forth a challenging trend to go deeper into the ground, and increase the space required for providing public amenities, parking and for housing utilities. Closely spaced structures in the vicinity of excavation, soft and compressible landfills, presence of underground utilities, and restriction of lateral ground movements have made the supporting systems a formidable task to execute. The support systems commonly adopted include Braced walls, Sheet pile walls, Contiguous or Secant pile walls, Diaphragm walls and RCC retaining walls. This article aims to present constructional and design elements of the retaining systems very commonly adopted in cities of India, namely Diaphragm walls, Contiguous piles and Soldier pile system with wooden laggings. The experiences and factors advocating selection of appropriate retaining system, determination of lateral earth and hydrostatic pressure distribution, constructional features, water related problems and bottle-necks during execution are described herein.