The fundamental reactions governing carbon-carbon bond formation remain a challenge to elucidate, despite the FT process being known for over a century. In all cases, the reaction must proceed via C≡O and H-H bond cleavage, subsequent C-C homologation, and eventual dehydration. Surface bound transition metal carbonyls have been proposed as reaction intermediates during the heterogenous FT process. Hydrogen activation at the metal surface is proposed to give reactive metal-hydrides as the other key intermediate in FT reactions. The combination of these two surface bound moieties underpins chain growth at the catalytic site, potentially via transient metal-formyl intermediates. Substantial effort to model the mechanistic processes of FT chemistry have been made using homogeneous metal complexes. These are far more amenable to study than heterogeneous systems, as the nature of the active site and reaction intermediates is readily elucidated by solution and solid-state characterisation methods. While homogeneous systems are yet to prove highly effective as catalysts for FT, their study allows elucidation of the fundamental steps for C-H and C-C bond formation from CO and H2 (or hydride sites). In this mini-review, we summarise the current examples of carbon chain production from metal formyl intermediates with homogeneous metal complexes. To date, the formation of both unsaturated and saturated C2 motifs along with cyclic C3 products has been reported. We discuss the mechanistic aspects of these reactions and the challenges and opportunities in using this understanding to underpin future FT chemistry.