The application of nanofluid in cooling systems is increasing. The nanofluid consists of a mixture of nanometallic and nonmetallic particles, which dispersed in a base fluid. In this study, an overview on fuel cell types and their applications and how they work are presented. In the main part of this paper, the previous articles on the application of nanofluid in fuel cell cooling are reviewed. Their general results indicate that fuel cells with nanofluids have a higher cooling capability than those with pure fluids. This increase has only been achieved by adding a limited volume fraction of nanoparticle. Studies show that the use of hybrid nanofluids increases the thermal conductivity compared to conventional nanofluids. Also, the economic and functional analyses provided by the researchers and their proposed relationships suggest that the use of nanofluids in a fuel cell has acceptable performance, and therefore they can be used as industrial fluids. Finally, the challenges of using nanofluids and fuel cells are discussed. It was found that limited studies have been conducted in the field of economic and exergy evaluation of fuel cell systems, including their impact on the environment, so it is suggested to address this issue in future studies. Graphic abstract