The paper presents a review of the main communication protocols relating to industrial applications of electrical drives. In the factory automation context, drives are increasingly considered as intelligent actuators which require to exchange amount of data both mutually and with a supervising unit in order to improve the process quality. The protocols here considered are relevant either because of their diffusion in specific market areas (Profibus, FIP), or due to their specific design tailored to the drives (CAN bus, SERCOS). After a classification of the different networks, according to serial point-to-point or multipoint connection, the single protocols are reviewed in detail, by considering the most significant features from the point of view of the drive producer and user and showing how they can affect the control performances of the drives. In conclusion a comprehensive comparison table is reported for quick referenc