<p>Heavy metals are known to have harmful effects on plants, inhibiting their normal growth and development. These metals mainly affect the plants by causing oxidative stress and can also interact with various proteins and chaperones in plants causing alterations in normal metabolic processes. As a result of the heavy metal toxicity, crop plants experience significant yield loss, which is a concerning issue in the context of the increasing global demand for food. Moreover, heavy metals can accumulate in the aerial and edible parts of food plants, allowing them to enter the food chain. Due to biomagnification, they accumulate inside the human system in much greater concentration causing health risk. Although plants have developed several strategies to mitigate heavy metal toxicity, these mechanisms are sometimes insufficient and can negatively affect overall plant yield. Application of nanoparticles has emerging as an effective approach to reducing heavy metal stress in plants due to their unique chemical properties and lower environmental toxicity. Both cerium oxide and silicon dioxide nanoparticles have proven to be effective in mitigating heavy metal toxicity in plants. They support enhanced growth, improve photosynthesis and yield, and reduce oxidative stress and heavy metal content in plants. This review deals with various heavy metals and their respective role in causing toxicity to plants and several strategies to use cerium and silicon oxide nanoparticles to alleviate them.</p>