Oil spills create serious ecological and economic problems making effective cleanup methods in great demand. The objective of this chapter is to give an overall view of the problems and impacts that oil spills cause. This sets the stage for the solutions explored in this book. Several clean-up strategies applied for oil spills will be reviewed with a focus on the advantages and disadvantages of sorbents compared to other methods. This chapter further reviews the contribution of sorbents to oil spill cleanup in consideration of different types and forms, together with their intrinsic limitations. Efficiency, selectivity, environmental impact, economic feasibility, scalability, and deployment challenges related to the use of foam sorbents are critically analyzed. It also gives a short historical background on some important oil spill incidents and the use of sorbents in cleanups. It is centered on bio-based foam sorbents and emphasizes the use of sustainable methods, showing examples how they work in oil spill cleanups.