This review briefly highlights findings from a survey of 2017 literature on substratum-associated microbiota from a variety of aquatic environments, but primarily freshwaters. Centered on algae, cyanobacteria, and bacteria, topics covered include those of relevance to the Water Environment Federation, along with those of recent and emerging interest such as new or updated methods, new and interesting taxa, general ecology, trophic interactions, biogeochemical cycling, aquatic pollutants like herbicides and heavy metals, and nuisance, bloom-forming, or harmful algae. Additional coverage includes studies on bioremediation, bioassessment, biomonitoring and quantification of benthic microbiota.