Chitin and its deacetylated derivative, chitosan, are non-toxic, antibacterial. biodegradable and biocompatible biopolymers. Due to these properties, they are widely used for biomedical applications such as tissue engineering scaffolds, drug delivery, wound dressings, separation membranes and antibacterial coatings, stent coatings, and sensors. In the recent years, electrospinning has been found to be a novel technique to produce chitin and chitosan nanofibers. These nanofibers find novel applications in biomedical fields due to their high surface area and porosity. This article reviews the recent reports on the preparation, properties and biomedical applications of chitin and chitosan based nanofibers in detail. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.