Abstract <p>Melt electrospinning has drawn much attention in recent years as a potentially eco-friendly process to produce micro to nanoscale mesofibers. Several reports have addressed new strategies and solvent-free process parameters to overcome some of the challenges inherent to this method, including high melt viscosity, production rate, and fiber diameter size. This review provides a summary of the principles and configurations of the melt electrospinning process, and the challenges associated with this method. Subsequently, it introduces free surface electrospinning along with fundamental physical concepts of this newly proposed electrospinning technique. The article provides a comprehensive review of theoretical equations related to fiber formation from a free surface of a liquid. Furthermore, free surface electrospinning as an alternative way to overcome many complexities of melt electrospinning to produce thin and continuous fibers is introduced and reviewed for the first time.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>