Display omitted •Tragacanth gum is an important natural agrochemical derived from Astragalus trees.•Tragacanth gum serves as stabilizer and thickener in various food and bioproducts.•TG has been used for the biosynthesis of various metal/metal oxide nanoarchitectures.•TG-biobased compounds have been used in industrial and biomedical applications. Natural polymers have distinct advantages over synthetic polymers because of their abundance, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Tragacanth gum, an anionic polysaccharide, is a natural polymer which is derived from renewable sources. As a biomaterial, tragacanth gum has been used in industrial settings such as food packaging and water treatment, as well as in the biomedical field as drug carriers and for wound healing purposes. The present review provides an overview on the state-of-the-art in the field of tragacanth gum applications. The structure, properties, cytotoxicity, and degradability as well as the recent advances in industrial and biomedical applications of tragacanth gum are reviewed to offer a backdrop for future research.