The intention of the present study is to review and compare the effect of various well-studied alloying elements on the microstructure and soft magnetic properties of the Fe-based amorphous/nanocrystalline system. The state-of-the-art Fe-based amorphous/nanocrystalline alloys have been developed because of their unique soft magnetic properties such as low core loss, high permeability(104–105 at 1kHz) and low magnetostriction (<10ppm) as compared to conventional silicon steels which are also called electrical steels. In Fe-based amorphous/nanocrystalline system, the chemical composition and microstructural features particularly grain size play an indispensable role on the saturated magnetization (Bs) and coercivity (Hc) values. An ideal Fe-based soft magnetic material is defined as a material possessing higher Bs and lower Hc. The problem of the new material is its low Bs value (for commercial material is 1.4T) than silicon steels (≈2T). In addition to Bs content of new material, many attempts have been made to reduce the Hc value which could be achieved via a decrease of grain size (<50nm). To reach this goal (Bs↑ and Hc↓), the effect of a variety of elements on the microstructure, crystallization process and soft magnetic properties of the Fe-based amorphous/nanocrystalline alloys has been investigated so far. The aim of all these studies is to find an appropriate replacement for conventional silicon steels because of their high core loss and low permeability. Effect of alloying elements including Si, B, Cu, Nb, Zr, N-doping, P, Ni, Co, H-doping, Ge and W on the microstructure and magnetic properties is the main subject of this study in order to shed light on the dependence of magnetic properties with composition and grain size. •N-doped alloys showedsuperior soft magnetic properties.•Cu and Nb are the most effective elements in refining grain size.•Soft magnetic properties highly depends on the primary composition and grain size.