Some aspects of DLVO and non-DLVO forces in colloidal systems are over-viewed. The influence of long range interactions on some kinetic properties of dispersions, as Brownian diffusion, is discussed. It is shown, both theoretically and experimentally, that the electrostatic repulsion increases the collective diffusivity. The film stratification and oscillatory structure forces in colloidal suspensions are considered within the framework of an uniform approach The presence of small colloidal species (e. g. micelles or polymer molecules) may lead to several maxima and minima in the disjoining pressure isotherm. The particular case of interacting emulsion droplets is examined accounting for the interfacial deformability. The droplet deformation acts as a soft repulsion but affects also the remaining contributions to the interaction energy due to changes of the droplet shape. A general procedure for calculating the inter-droplet interaction energy, as well as the equilibrium film radius and thickness in a doublet of droplets, is suggested. The energy of interaction between charged colloidal particles, due to correlations of the density fluctuations in the electric double layer is also studied. It is found that this effect may lead to attraction greater than the van der Waals contribution, especially when multivale counter ions are present.