Plasmonic nanoparticles have emerged as unique nanoheaters that selectively heat the local environment of the particles. This local heating finds various applications - from photothermal cancer therapy and photothermal imaging to photothermally-enhanced catalytic activity and photothermal thermoelectric devices. This review deals with the interactions of lasers with plasmonic nanoparticles – from fundamental aspects of plasmonic heating to practical applications such as drug delivery, phase separation of thermoresponsive polymers, hydrothermal reactions, and glass nanoprocessing, to name a few. Plasmonic heating helps to reveal fundamental physics such as phase transition and phase separation at the nanoscale. Besides, plasmonic heating is valuable for microscale fabrication and manipulation. Further, plasmonics incorporating photothermal effects can be a powerful technique for temperature sensing
