Contact glow discharge electrolysis (CGDE)/plasma electrolysis (PE) which is associated with the formation of a light emitting plasma around an electrode in a high conductivity electrolyte solution at moderate voltages up to similar to 1 kV, has in recent years attracted considerable interest as a tool for generating a large quantity of heat and a high yield of solvent-split radicals. These potentialities of CGDE/PE have, in fact, been exploited by a large number of investigators for applications ranging over areas as varied as synthetic chemistry, waste water treatment, degradation of polymers, electrosurgical tools, surface engineering, nanoparticle fabrication, machining and micro-machining, hydrogen production with very encouraging results. The article reviews comprehensively these results.