This review article exemplifies the importance of self-cleaning materials and coatings. Self-cleaning coatings are becoming an integral part of our daily life because of their utility in various applications such as windows, solar panels, cements, and paints. In this review, various categories of materials for the fabrication of hydrophilic, hydrophobic, oleophobic, amphiphobic and multifunctional coatings and their synthesis routes have been discussed. Furthermore, different natural organisms exhibiting superhydrophobic behaviour have been analysed. This review also covers the fundamentals of self-cleaning attributes such as water contact angle, surface energy, and contact angle hysteresis.