Since the advent of the interdigital transduction for efficient transducer of surface acoustic waves (SAW), SAW devices have provided a key technology for communication and signal processing systems. In order to obtain the required electrical terminal characteristics, a diverse number of SAW components have evolved. Some of these components include bidirectional and unidirectional transducers, couplers, beam compressors, waveguides, and reflectors. The various SAW components are monolithically integrated, using processors similar to those for integrated circuits, on a piezoelectric substrate to produce dispersive filters, linear phase filters, resonators, convolvers, and correlators. These devices are manufactured for a wide variety of applications which include TV‐IF, cable TV, VCRs, fiber optic repeaters, radar, spread spectrum receivers, cellular radio, sensors, and a variety of communication receiver applications. The technological innovations and operation of the primary SAW components will be discussed. The presentation will focus on component implementations, their operation, and their most significant parameters. A review of some of the key developments of SAW technology and their applications will also be presented.