As renewable energy demand grows, different sectors (especially energy and household) face increasing fuel shortages. Increasing interest in alternative biomass for heat production also increases the need to develop appropriate combustion technologies. This paper investigates studies carried out in the context of renewable energy. The main objectives of the article are to identify the trends between alternative biomass types and combustion processes and to find binding keywords between the topics mentioned. Two bibliometric methods – performance analysis and science mapping analysis – are applied to analyse scientific literature related to the specific application from the Scopus database. Performance analysis results show that the number of publications and citations on using alternative biomass in energy is increasing annually. The most significant number of publications in terms of biomass types are municipal solid waste and algae, while in terms of combustion technologies, it is about direct combustion and gasification. According to the results of scientific mapping analysis, algae has a strong link to climate change and sustainability issues.