Strategies for inorganic speciation analysis employing spectrometric techniques–Review

•A brief revision of non-chromatographic speciation analysis has been presented.•The main strategies employed for non-chromatographic speciation analysis have been discussed and compared.•The main difficulties found in speciation studies have been showed and discussed.•The advantages, drawbacks, and applications of the XANES spectroscopy in speciation analysis have been discussed. This work shows a brief revision of the analytical methods which have been recently developed for speciation studies employing non-chromatographic speciation techniques. Advantages, limitations, and applications of this technique have been discussed, including a comparison to the chromatographic speciation analysis. Additionally, procedures proposed recently for speciation analysis utilizing chemical vapor generation, ion-imprinted polymers, microorganism, selective chemical reactions, and separation techniques have been highlighted, evidencing advantages, and drawbacks. The advantages and applications of the XANES spectroscopy as a technique for speciation analysis are also described.