Advances in the synthesis and application of highly efficient polymers and small molecules over the last two decades have enabled the rapid advancement in the development of organic solar cells and photovoltaic technology as a promising alternative to conventional solar cells, based on silicon and other inorganic semiconducting materials. Among the different types of organic semiconducting materials, porphyrins and BODIPY-based small molecules and conjugated polymers attract high interest as efficient semiconducting organic materials for dye sensitized solar cells and bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. The highest power conversion efficiency exceeding 9% has been reported so far for porphyrin small molecules and 8.60% for conjugated polymers based on porphyrins. On the other hand, small molecules and conjugated polymers based on BODIPY moiety have been successfully used as donor materials for solution processed bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, and the resultant devices showed power conversion efficiencies exceeding 5.5%. In this article, the development of molecular design of porphyrins and BODIPY small molecules and polymers for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells are reviewed, and a guideline for the structure-performance relationship is provided.