We have witnessed during the past years groundbreaking developments and numerous innovations in the use of Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) methods for the synthesis of carbon nanostructures. While efforts were devoted at first to the realization of diamond and sp(3)-rich films, the emphasis has shifted since a few years to more graphitic structures, and in particular carbon nanotubes. In this overview, the different CVD methods for the growth of carbon nanostructures will be introduced and compared, with emphasis on Hot-Filament CVD (HF-CVD). The relevance and unique advantages of HF-CVD for the growth of carbon nanotubes will be outlined with specific examples and their properties will be discussed. Finally, the potential for applications with HF-CVD-grown carbon nanostructures will be assessed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.