Industrial development takes part a vital part in the development of a country economy. On the other hand, it is also one reason for the declining circumstance of our ecology. Water pollution is a worldwide challenge that distresses ecology and social healthiness with substantial economic and public expenditures. The emergent shortage of portable water resources involves an efficient wastewater treatment system. One potential approach that numerous research has stated that success is nanomaterials in water and wastewater treatment. The rapid evolution of nanomaterial sciences research and its integrated techniques such as nanophotocatalyst has shown their emergent potential; conversely, there has not been a great extent of statistics available on their execution. Several nano-material based approaches employed in wastewater treatment deliberated in this manuscript. This review emphasises advances in nanotechnology and their respective kinetics, different reaction-based models for wastewater treatment. © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.