Achieving self-assembling/self-organizing systems is the holy grail of nanotechnology. Spontaneous organization is not unique to the physical sciences since nature has been producing such systems for millions of years. In biological systems global patterns emerge from numerous interactions among lower-level components of the system. The same is true for physical systems. In this review, the self-assembly mechanisms of oxide nanocomposite films, as well as the advantageous functionalities that arise from such ordered structures, are explored.