Major topographical modifications of polypropylene (PP), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) can be induced by plasma treatments. If only non-specific topographical changes are observed on most of the polymers, characteristic nanostructures are created on PP and PMMA by noble gases plasma treatments. These nanostructures do not depend on the crystallinity and on the stretching of the polymers, but can be related to the chemistry of the polymers after the plasma treatment. He plasma treated PMMA also shows microstructures superposed on the nanostructures. These greater grooves are oriented along the stretching direction of the polymer foil. Etching is the main phenomenon induced by plasma treatments on PTFE and PET, leading to different final surface features for both polymers. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) associated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results provides a good estimation of phenomena occurring during plasma treatments. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.