Reductive cleavage of methyl 3,4-O-benzylidene-α-L-fucopyranosides with BH3·THF-TfOH and NaCNBH3-TfOH systems resulted in enhanced reaction rates and selectivity compared to BH3·THF-Bu2BOTf. With this latter system, the nature of the O-2 substituent exerted a clear control on the reactivity but practically did not affect the regioselectivity. With TfOH the direction of cleavage was determined, as expected