We review the present understanding of η and η meson physics and these mesons as a probe of gluon dynamics in low-energy QCD. Recent highlights include the production mechanism of η and η mesons in proton-nucleon collisions from threshold to high-energy, the η effective mass shift in the nuclear medium, searches for possible η and η bound states in nuclei as well as precision measurements of η decays as a probe of light-quark masses. We discuss recent experimental data, theoretical interpretation of the different measurements and the open questions and challenges for future investigation.