Carbon dioxide is an iconic greenhouse gas and a major factor for current global climate changes, making essential its capture and recycling into valuable products and fuels. Methanol is a key compound that could be obtained from the 6-electrons, 6-protons CO2 reduction and that can be used both as a fuel and as a platform-molecule. The goal of this review is to present a comparative analysis of the CO2 reduction routes to methanol via heterogeneous and homogeneous catalytic hydrogenation, as well as enzymatic, photo-and electro-catalysis. After identifying catalytic materials and reaction conditions, we provide a comparative assessment of their respective advantages and drawbacks in terms of selectivity, productivity, stability, operating conditions, cost and technical readiness level. Currently, heterogeneous hydrogenation catalysis and electrocatalysis have the highest potential for the CO2 reduction to methanol at larger scale. Availability and price of sustainable electricity appear as essential prerequisites for efficient methanol synthesis from CO2.