Cord blood (CB) has been used since 1988 as a source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and progenitor cells for hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) to treat patients with malignant and nonmalignant disorders. CB has both advantages and disadvantages when compared with other tissue sources of HSCs such as bone marrow and mobilized peripheral blood, which are also being used in the setting of HCT. This short review focuses on some historical information, as well as current efforts that are being assessed to enhance the efficacy of CB HCT. Also of importance are the costs of CB, and the feasibility and economics of using such to be identified, and newly confirmed improvements worldwide for the greatest number of patients. In this context, simple methods that would not necessarily entail the need for selected cell-processing facilities to ex vivo expand or improve the CB graft's functional activity may be of interest, with one such possibility being the use of an orally active inhibitor of the enzyme dipeptidylpeptidase 4, alone or in combination with other new and innovative approaches for improving HSC engraftment and in vivo repopulating capability of CB.