Environmental application of nanomaterials to treat air, soil and wastewater pollutants has several advantages due to the unique properties of the nanoparticles. In the literature, there are many positive reports of effective treatment processes for different environmental pollutants based on nanotechnology. However, successful laboratory-scale experiments do not imply that there are no challenges and concerns for the environmental application of nanomaterials on a large scale. Here, in this review, we briefly discuss the sources and types of environmental pollutants, the problems associated with their existence, and the conventional and nanotechnological methods of addressing them. The challenges facing the environmental application of nanotechnology in the field of removing pollutants were also discussed, in addition to suggestions and recommendations to address these challenges.