Organic/inorganic hybrid coatings prepared via the sol-gel process have received lot of interests during the early twenty-first century. Devices obtained thanks to this low-temperature route display a large panel of bulk and surface properties that can be modulated according to the target. Moreover, this versatility enables to offer solutions in various domains and industrial applications such as microelectronics, optic, aeronautic, automotive, health. When the aimed application required polymer as substrate, the use of sol-gel process takes its full interest as soft chemistry. This review is dedicated to mechanical properties improvement of a common polymer substrate, e.g., polycarbonate, when a transparent sol-gel coating recovered it. Graphical Abstract