Corrosion remains one of the most pervasive and economically burdensome challenges confronting modern industry, inflicting annual global costs estimated at approximately US$2.5 trillion, equivalent to 3.4% of the world's Gross Domestic Product . This comprehensive review synthesizes current knowledge on corrosion mechanisms, mitigation strategies, and industrial applications across critical sectors including oil and gas, marine infrastructure, wastewater treatment, and civil engineering. The analysis systematically examines electrochemical principles governing corrosion thermodynamics and kinetics, establishing that while thermodynamics predicts corrosion spontaneity through Gibbs free energy calculations, kinetics determines the actual degradation rate . Key corrosion morphologies—uniform, pitting, crevice, galvanic, intergranular, stress corrosion cracking, and microbiologically influenced corrosion—are characterized with emphasis on their distinct initiation mechanisms and propagation dynamics. Advanced mitigation approaches are critically evaluated, including protective coatings achieving >90% corrosion reduction, inhibitor systems demonstrating >95% efficiency in controlled environments, cathodic protection methodologies, and emerging self-healing technologies based on layered double hydroxide nanocarriers that exhibit 95–99.9% inhibition efficiency . Particular attention is devoted to green corrosion inhibitors derived from renewable sources and hybrid systems combining organic and inorganic functionalities for enhanced synergistic protection. The review further examines monitoring technologies, from non-destructive testing to AI-driven predictive models achieving reliability metrics exceeding 0.85 R². It concludes that effective corrosion management necessitates integrated, multi-layered approaches bridging laboratory mechanistic understanding with field-applicable, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable solutions.