This review provides information related to cardanol, including structural aspects, chemical reactions, extraction, characterization, and applicability.Cardanol is one of the principal components of cashew nutshell liquid that can be obtained from agricultural waste generated during cashew crop.Interest in cardanol is due to its use as a precursor for synthesizing many organic compounds with several applications.Among the chemical reactions that cardanol undergoes are sulfonation, nitration, esterification, halogenation, etherification, and epoxidation.In addition, the chemical structure of cardanol contains hydrophilic and hydrophobic structural segments, which increases its potential applications in the manufacture of coating and new materials based on polymers.