Grain starch in general has wide array of applications in industry, food preparation, paper surface coating and textiles. Many of the important functional properties of starch including the emulsion capacity, water and oil absorption, least gelation concentration and foaming capacity can be substantially improved from physical and chemical modifications. In this review, current and advances in grain starch modification technology was examined and the functional properties compared with the unmodified sample. Chemical modifications such as crosslinking starch granules with variety of cross-linkers such as citric acid improved the functional properties of acha starch significantly. The least gelation concentration (LGC) increased from 6% to 8% and the pasting viscosity also decreased to 25Cp Other chemical modification techniques examined include oxidation and acid treatment or mild hydrolysis. Several starch oxidizing agents were reviewed and the effect of sodium hypochlorite (3% active chlorine) on acha starch was compared to the native starch. Oxidation further reduced the pasting viscosity of native sample from 30Cp to 20Cp whilst the least gelation concentration was also reduced to 6%. Acid treatment affected the pasting viscosity of acha starch substantially (15Cp) whilst the LGC increased to 14%. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of modified samples showed effects on starch granule morphology