Cosmic radiation has been known since the first decades of the 20th century: it has been considered for many years, the best source of projectiles to investigate the core of matter, from nuclei to elementary particles. Nowadays, cosmic ray muons are very important in particle and nuclear physics, because they are used for detector testing and calibration, and for detector alignment in complex measurement apparatuses, thanks to their high penetration capability. However, cosmic ray radiation has been already applied in fields beyond pure physics. An overview of the applications of the cosmic ray muons for civil usages, with special focus on the last development of the various techniques will be here presented.