This paper reviews and highlights the current state of the art on active flow control applied to civil aircrafts. A brief introduction presents the flow control research field and the technology readiness levels already reached to answer civil aircrafts needs. Then different types of flows around an aircraft are discussed as a potential applications of flow control. A short review of active flow control actuators is made with a focus on those more adaptable to be applied on civil aircrafts. Finally, the main difficulties to overcome in order to reach technology readiness levels allowing application on civil aircrafts are mentioned.