SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors) are now generally accepted to be the major players in the final stage of the docking and the subsequent fusion of diverse vesicle-mediated transport events. The SNARE-mediated process is conserved evolutionally from yeast to human, as well as mechanistically and structurally across different transport events in eukaryotic cells. In the post-genomic era, a fairly complete list of "all" SNAREs in several organisms (including human) can now be made. This review aims to summarize the key properties and the mechanism of action of SNAREs in mammalian cells.