<p>The application of photopolymers has grown significantly in the field of additive manufacturing (AM), facilitating rapid solidification, energy-efficient curing, and solvent-free processing of high-resolution structures for biomedical, electronic, and photonic applications. This review article provides a comprehensive investigation of UV-curable photopolymers for additive manufacturing to show studies on photo-curing mechanisms, photopolymers’ preparation and processing techniques, and their applications. Photopolymers support high-resolution printing through cross-linking using constituents that comprise monomers, oligomers, photoinitiators, and fillers including bio-derived chemistries and nanocomposite reinforcements such as cellulose nanocrystals and MXenes for cutting-edge applications. Processing techniques of the photopolymer such as stereolithography, digital light processing, two-photon polymerization, CLIP, volumetric printing, and inkjet curing were compared in terms of resolution, speed, and limitations. The printability of photopolymers such as acrylate, epoxy, thiol-ene networks, and functional systems that yield dielectric, conductive, or biocompatible properties was analyzed. Simulations of photopolymers were discussed to understand their curing kinetics behavior. Furthermore, the review offers a critical analysis of existing challenges such as cure depth, shrinkage, stability, toxicity, and scalability and proposes future directions for UV-curing technologies, focusing on issues such as sustainability, durability, and integration with emerging manufacturing systems.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>