Harmful portion of ultraviolet (UV) radiation is one of the significant physical carcinogen in our natural environment. The damage caused by UV exposure to our body is cumulative and builds up over the years. UV protective textiles have been used to protect the wearer from harmful UV radiation. UV blocking effect of textile depends on various parameters viz. fiber type, yarn structure, weave, fabric construction factor, finishes, dyes etc. Further, UV protective property of textiles can be improved by incorporating UV blocking agent in the textile matrix. Several nanomaterial possesses excellent UV blocking effect and these could be incorporated into the textile matrix to improve the UV blocking properties of textiles. In this review, author discuss the various conventional ways to impart UV blocking property to the textile materials. Author also survey the current state-of-the-art of nanomaterials based UV protective textiles, mechanism of UV blocking properties of various nanomaterials, provide an overview of UV protective fabric manufacturing techniques and also discuss the durability of nanomaterials treated UV protective textiles. Finally, the manuscript has been concluded with few major challenges for the development of UV protective textiles by using nanomaterials.