Photosensitive polymers are becoming increasingly important for holographic applications. Commercially available polymers have proved essential to the development of holography as a tool to prevent counterfeiting, for holographic optical elements, as media for display holography, as well as media for waveguiding and to make optical interconnects. Simple polymers such as PVA, PAA, PVCz and PMMA were shown to be quite useful in the field of polarization holography, real-time holography, and non-linear optics. High real-time diffraction efficiency as achieved with dye doped dichormated polyvinyl alcohol (DCPVA) and polyacrylic acid (DCPAA) opens the door to a more extensive usage of these polymers for specific applications. However, development procedures and fabrication techniques have to be established to permit broad utilization of these simple and inexpensive recording media.