Interest in eco-friendly materials with high efficiencies is increasing significantly as science and technology undergo a paradigm shift toward environment-friendly and sustainable development. MXenes, a class of two-dimensional inorganic compounds, are generally defined as transition metal carbides or nitrides composed of few-atoms-thick layers with functional groups. Recently MXenes, because of their desirable electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties that emerge from conductive layered structures with tunable surface terminations, have garnered significant attention as promising candidates for energy storage applications (e.g., supercapacitors and electrode materials for Li-ion batteries), water purification, and gas sensors. In this review, we introduce MXenes and describe their properties and research trends by classifying them into two main categories: transition metal carbides and nitrides, including Ti-based MXenes, Mo-based MXenes, and Nb-based MXenes.