Nanotechnology has produced compelling evidences in the field of catalysis, construction, electronics, energy, food, imaging, medical, packaging, pharmaceutical sectors and in water treatment. Nanoparticles of transition metal origin are enticing in catalytic applications due to their lowlying empty orbitals for bonding and can offer a distinct ability to expand the coordination sphere. This coupled with ease of synthesis, recyclability and occurrence in abundance staples them as unique industrial materials. Transition metals such as Gold, Palladium, Silver, Copper, Iron, Ruthenium, Rhodium and hetero-bimetallic versions have been in demand for various organic transformations. The sharp rise in number of literature reports justifies the stand in catalytic property. A unique ability to form Covalent and/or Van der Waals interactions with solid supports and activate the substrates through close functional group interactions renders them as effective entities in organic transformations. In this review, we present the new developments in this niche in the past five years with a retreat on the mechanistic aspects along with parameters involved in nanoparticle characterizations through advances in spectroscopy.