Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is one of the most significant widefield super-resolution optical imaging techniques. The conventional SIM utilizes a sinusoidal structured pattern to excite the fluorescent sample; which eventually down-modulates higher spatial frequency sample information within the diffraction-limited passband of the microscopy system and provides around two-fold resolution enhancement over diffraction limit after suitable computational post-processing. Here we provide an overview of the basic principle, image reconstruction, technical development of the SIM technique. Nonetheless, in order to push the SIM resolution further towards the extreme nanoscale dimensions, several different approaches are launched apart from the conventional SIM. Among the various SIM methods, some of the important techniques e.g. TIRF, non-linear, plasmonic, speckle SIM etc are discussed elaborately. Moreover, we highlight different implementations of SIM in various other imaging modalities to enhance their imaging performances with augmented capabilities. Finally, some future outlooks are mentioned which might develop fruitfully and pave the way for new discoveries in near future.

结构照明显微镜 (SIM) 是最重要的宽场超分辨率光学成像技术之一。传统的 SIM 利用正弦结构模式来激发荧光样品；它最终在显微镜系统的衍射限制通带内向下调制更高的空间频率样本信息，并在适当的计算后处理后提供超过衍射极限的大约两倍的分辨率增强。在这里，我们概述了 SIM 技术的基本原理、图像重建和技术发展。尽管如此，为了将 SIM 分辨率进一步推向极端纳米尺度，除了传统的 SIM 之外，还推出了几种不同的方法。在各种 SIM 方法中，一些重要的技术如 TIRF、详细讨论了非线性、等离子体、散斑 SIM 等。此外，我们强调了 SIM 在各种其他成像模式中的不同实现，以通过增强功能增强其成像性能。最后，提到了一些未来的前景，它们可能会取得丰硕的成果，并为不久的将来的新发现铺平道路。