We review various methodologies as developed recently in our group for the production of carbon xerogel particles with a wide variety of morphologies (from spherical to fractal-like) in the size range of micro- to nanoscale. To name a few are sol-gel emulsification, electrospraying, electrospinning, and chemical vapor deposition. The role of various process parameters is studied in length to achieve a fine tuning and control on the size and morphologies of carbon structures. A large number of polymer precursors such as organic xerogel, photoresist materials, and polymers are employed as a source of carbon. Other than conventional photolithography, soft lithography and biomimicking approaches are used to fabricate micropatterned carbon surfaces which are further used to fabricate hierarchical carbon structures by combining top-down, bottom-up, and self-assembly processes. Thus, fabricated hierarchical carbon structures due to their unique properties such as controllable wettability, high surface area, and biocompatibility open up new possibilities in the area of carbon-based microelectrochemical systems, microfluidics, biosensors, and environmental pollution control. A more insight about some of these applications is presented in this work. © 2015 Springer India.