Advanced targeted nanomedicine

•Nanomaterials are used to target both imaging and therapeutic agents.•Targeting a tumor environment might better address issue of tumor heterogeneity.•pHLIP senses acidity on the surface of cells.•pHLIP targets nanomaterials to acidic diseased tissue.•pHLIP promotes cytoplasmic delivery of nanomaterial's payloads. Targeted drug delivery has been the major topic in drug formulation and delivery. As nanomedicine emerges to create nano scale therapeutics and diagnostics, it is still essential to embed targeting capability to these novel systems to make them useful. Here we discuss various targeting approaches for delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic nano materials in view of search for more universal methods to target diseased tissues. Many diseases are accompanied with hypoxia and acidosis. Coating nanoparticles with pH Low Insertion Peptides (pHLIPs) increases efficiency of targeting acidic diseased tissues. It has been showing promising results to create future nanotheranostics for cancer and other diseases which are dominating in the present world.