<p>Remediation of contaminated marine sediments is a key issue for the sustainable blue growth. Current research is focused on developing new reactive materials for the remediation of different contaminants in sediments. Nanomaterials are excellent candidates for the remediation of contaminated sediments due to their higher reactivity and sorption capacity than the same materials of standard size. This review compares several nanomaterials regarding remediation performance (i.e. adsorption or degradation of contaminants) with inorganic and organic compounds. Another important aspect of these materials considered is the environmental impact related to the production processes and the application. The wide-ranging discussion of recent case studies focusing on the synthesis of nanomaterials and their applications for the remediation of contaminated marine sediments allows us to create a still image of the current situation and highlight which gaps need to be filled before even the most recently discovered materials can be used in the real field.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>