Since solar thermal collectors are considered to be the most direct way of converting the solar energy into the usable form, in the last few years growing attention has been paid to the development of transition metal nitride and metal oxynitride based thin film selective surfaces for solar-thermal collectors in order to harvest more solar energy. A solar-thermal energy system, generally, shows very high solar absorption of incident solar radiation from the solar-thermal collectors in the visible range (0.3 to 2.5 µm) and extremely low thermal losses through emission (or high reflection) in the infrared region (≥ 2.5 µm). The efficiency of a solar-thermal energy conversion system can be improved by the use of solar selective surfaces consisting of novel metallic nanoparticles surrounded in metal nitride/oxynitrides systems. In order to enhance the effectiveness of solar thermal devices, solar selective surfaces with high thermal stability are a prerequisite. Over the years, substantial efforts have been made in the field of solar selective surfaces to attain higher solar absorptance and lower thermal emittance at high temperature (above 400°C) applications. In this article, we review the present state-of-the-art transition metal nitride and/or oxynitrides based vacuum sputtered Page 1 of 36 AUTHOR SUBMITTED MANUSCRIPT-JOPT-104532.R1 nanostructured thin film coatings with respect to their optical and solar selective surface applications. We have also summarized the solar selectivity data from recent published literature investigations, including discussion on some potential applications for these materials.