Electron spin resonance (ESR) is a microwave spectroscopy first used in speleology for dating stalactites and stalagmites at Akiyoshi-dô Cave has become a dating method in geology and archaeology. The principle of ESR dating utilizes trapped electrons and holes or radiation damages that are created by natural radiation from radioactivities in the materials and also from the environment. The total dose of natural radiation (TD) is estimated from the growth curve of ESR signal intensity by artificial irradiation. The ESR age (T) is assessed considering the average annual dose rate (D) of natural radiation. Applications of ESR dating from speleological materials to fossil bones in paleo-anthropology, shells and corals in marine geology and to geological fault movements and geothermal history were developed in these ten years in addition to the recent breakthrough of dating forensic, historical and archaeological organic materials. Progress in ESR dating is reviewed with the emphasis on the recent work in data processing procedures and organic dating with ESR. All the bibliography of ESR dating is compiled for convenience up to the end of 1984. ESR analysis of the materials discussed can aid in their conservation.