Nanorattles and hollow nanocontainers have unique properties related to the presence of a void space inside the shell, which has been shown to improve the properties of materials for e.g. catalysis, drug release, sensor materials or lithium ion batteries. This article summarizes our recent progress in the synthesis of hollow silica, titania and ceria nanorattles and nanocontainers, eventually encapsulating AgNPs as cargo and highlights their potential applications in catalysis and biomedicine.