<p>Sustainable wastewater treatment is essential to ensure clean water access and protect environmental and human health. This review highlights nanocellulose as a promising, scalable, and eco-friendly alternative for addressing global water pollution and advancing sustainable development goals. Nanocellulose offers a high surface area, tunable surface chemistry, and strong mechanical properties, making it highly effective for adsorbing pollutants such as heavy metals, oils, pharmaceuticals, organic-contaminants and dyes. The paper discusses various extraction and functionalization methods, and performance comparisons of nanocellulose/nanocellulose derivatives with conventional adsorbents. Nanocellulose-based materials demonstrate superior efficiency, environmental compatibility, and reusability. However, challenges remain in scaling up production, integrating into existing treatment systems, and ensuring economic-viability. Future research should focus on processes such as green synthesis, life-cycle assessment and multifunctional material design.</p>