High-brightness X-ray radiation produced by third-generation synchrotron light sources (TGLS) has been used for numerous time-resolved investigations in many different scientific fields. The typical time duration of X-ray pulses delivered by these large-scale machines is about 50-100 ps. A growing number of time-resolved studies would benefit from X-ray pulses with two or three orders of magnitude shorter duration. Here, techniques explored in the past for shorter X-ray pulse emission at TGLS are reviewed and the perspective towards the realisation of picosecond and sub-picosecond X-ray pulses are discussed.