The inevitable drawbacks of petrochemical polymer‐based packaging (e.g., extreme loss of fossil resources, excessive products’ carbon footprint, and inordinate environmental pollution resulting from the accumulation of disposed nonbiodegradable plastic‐based packages) have urged scientists to develop novel packaging materials from nature‐inspired biopolymers. Due to their biodegradability, non‐toxicity, film‐forming ability, and barrier properties versus gasses/aroma, polysaccharides have been increasingly valued in developing food packaging materials at the lab or industrial scale. Nonetheless, these valuable biopolymers also suffer from some inherent deficiencies, that is, low resistance to water and poor mechanical attributes. Hitherto, tackling such bottlenecks via the modification of biopolymers through chemical/physical approaches and applying a combination of several biopolymers has been the main focus of numerous recent studies. In this context, the present article, for the first time, provides a comprehensive update on the most recent utilization of common polysaccharides (e.g., starch, chitosan, xanthan gum, gum Arabic, alginate, gellan, pectin, and carrageenan) for food packaging applications.

In nature, cellulose is present in fibrillar structures with alternative crystalline and amorphous fragments. The application of various chemical treatments (acid hydrolysis, enzymolysis, and oxidation) could lead to the extraction and purification of crystalline compartments in the form of cellulose nanocrystals. On the other hand, applying harsh mechanical treatments (milling, ultrasonication, high‐pressure processing, grinding, microfluidization, etc.) could result in the degradation of cellulose macrostructures into nano‐fibrillated segments without depletion of the amorphous fractions. These structures are called cellulose nanofibers. Bacterial nanocelluloses (BNCs) are another nanostructure of cellulose that is generated through the bottom–up technique. BNCs are the purest forms of cellulose nanostructures (CNSs). Hitherto, various spectroscopy and microscopy characterization techniques have been developed for in‐depth investigation of CNSs. The valuable information obtained via such instrumental techniques has opened windows on new horizons for the application of CNSs in novel realms. Nowadays, CNSs have found a seat in biomedical, packaging, emulsification, water filtration, and textile applications. In this review, after describing various forms of CNSs and their fabrication methods, the most recent techniques that have been utilized for the characterization of these structures plus their current application in different realms are comprehensively overviewed.