In recent years, with the rapid development of pharmaceutical industry, the stimuli-responsive particles and magnetic particles have gained wide investigations in fundamental studies and technological applications. These particles represent dramatic characteristics in the fields of immunodetection, gene transfection, hyperthermia and drug delivery. In this article, the advances for different types of stimuli-responsive particles were described, such as temperature responsive polymers, pH responsive polymers and temperature/pH-dual-responsive polymers. Finally, their properties and applications in drug control release were discussed. In addition, some works on magnetic particles are reviewed, including the synthesis methods, physicochemical properties of particles and their applications in biomedical field. The effects of synthesis methods on physicochemical properties of particles are also discussed. On these bases, the fabrications of novel stimuli-responsive magnetic systems such as temperature-responsive magnetic nanoparticles and temperature/pH-dual responsive magnetic nanoparticles are discussed. Their applications in drug control release are also reviewed. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.