This paper proposes a review of electromagnetic metamaterials based on the idea that these are composite materials, their properties depending of the type and dimensions of the structural elements as well as the dimensions of unit cell. From the multitude of structural elements, only few that could present negative permittivity and negative or very high permeability in the range of radio and microwave frequency were chosen. The method of determination for the constitutive parameters (eff and εeff) of metamaterials based on the S parameters or transmission and reflection coefficients is presented. Moreover, some applications of metamaterials are described, the attention being focused on perfect lenses and novel structures, namely conical Swiss rolls, electromagnetic cloaks and sensors for nondestructive evaluation of materials. Given that the spatial resolution of these sensors can be substantially improved in comparison to classical sensors, the metamaterial lenses are used for the manipulation of evanescent waves.