Among wound closure biomaterials, sutures have the longest history, have received the most attention, and are the most widely used. A suture is a strand of material, either natural or synthetic, used to ligate blood vessels and to approximate tissue together. In this article, all aspects of suture‐based wound closure biomaterials, their classification, and chemical, physical, mechanical, biological, and biodegradation properties are concisely covered. Catgut and silk dominated the suture market until 1930. The introduction of steel wire and synthetic nonabsorbable fibers such as nylon, polyester, and polypropylene during and after World War II greatly expanded the chemical composition of suture materials. The introduction of absorbable suture materials in the 1970s opened a new milestone for suture materials. The most important advantage of synthetic absorbable sutures is their reproducible and predictable degradability inside a biological environment.