It is difficult for engineers and scientists to remain up to date on the wide variety of surface engineering technologies available for product and process design, to solve maintenance problems, etc.  This paper provides a brief overview of the major types of surface processes and resulting coatings or other surface treatments.  It is intended only to provide an elementary introduction to serve as a background for further inquiry by the reader or to assist those not familiar with a given field to more easily understand other presentations in this conference session.  The technologies considered include thermal spray, physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, electroplating, and laser surface treatment.