Carbon materials are, in general, very good absorbents of microwaves, i.e., they are easily heated by microwave radiation. This characteristic allows them to be transformed by microwave heating, giving rise to new carbons with tailored properties, to be used as microwave receptors, in order to heat other materials indirectly, or to act as a catalyst and microwave receptor in different heterogeneous reactions. In recent years, the number of processes that combine the use of carbons and microwave heating instead of other methods based on conventional heating In this paper some of the microwave-assisted processes in which carbon materials are produced, has increased. transformed or used in thermal treatments (generally, as microwave absorbers and catalysts) are reviewed and the main achievements of this technique are compared with those obtained by means of conventional (non microwave-assisted) methods in similar conditions. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.