This data set contains the source data of the publication: ul Islam, T., Wang, Y., Aggarwal, I., Cui, Z., Eslami Amirabadi, H., Garg, H., Kooi, R., Venkataramanachar, B., Wang, T., Zhang, S., Onck, P. R., & den Toonder, J. M. J. (2022). Microscopic artificial cilia - a review. Lab on a Chip, 22, 1650-1679. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1lc01168e. In this paper, we provide a critical review of the progress in artificial cilia research and development as well as an evaluation of its future potential. We cover all aspects from fabrication approaches, actuation principles, artificial cilia functions – flow generation, particle transport and flow sensing – to applications. In addition to in-depth analyses of the current state of knowledge, we provide classifications of the different approaches and quantitative comparisons of the results obtained.