This article provides an overview of works (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016) devoted to the passivation of various metals and the influence of organic carboxylic acids and their salts thereon. The results of corrosion and electrochemical studies, as well studies on the composition and structural features of surface layers on the metals being protected by a variety of physicochemical methods are considered. Protection of metals by organic corrosion inhibitors (CIs) is based mostly on the adsorption of these compounds on a metal surface and subsequent formation of protective layers that minimizes access of corrosive ions to that surface. Adsorption can occur via electrostatic interaction of the CI with the metal substrate (physisorption), or it can involve charge sharing between the surface and CI (chemisorption), or combination of both interaction types can take place. Passivation of metals remains a central problem to be solved by the corrosion science. In the development of nanoindustry methods focused on creating ultrathin layers on metals capable of preventing the corrosion of the metals, an important role is played by surface passivation using CIs. Corrosion inhibitors can form passivating (often polymolecular) layers on metals but with thickness d < 10 nm, making them invisible to an unaided eye and keeping intact the decorative properties of a coated article's surface. This passivation can be done using volatile CIs from the vapor phase or nonvolatile CIs from aqueous solutions. Since metal passivation using conventional corrosion inhibitors of oxidizing type (e.g., nitrites, chromates) is seriously limited in practice due to environmental considerations, requirements for inhibiting formulations keep changing over time.The use of corrosion inhibitors in passivation has played a major role not only in the application of oxidants (chromates, nitrites, etc.) but also in adsorptive, often "oxideless" passivation that we discovered as early as in the mid-1970s [1]. As for corrosion inhibitors