Abstract. The paper reviews a current state of the art in the in-line plasma treatment of low-cost materials and opportunities for the use of the so-called Diffuse Coplanar Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DCSBD). A brief outline of physical mechanism and basic properties of DCSBD is given. The results presented on the ambient air plasma treatments of textile, paper, wood, and glass illustrate that DCSBD offers outstanding performance with extremely low energy consumption for large area, uniform surface modifications of materials under continuous process conditions.