On one side, diet is one of the most prominent factors that shapes gut microbiota, while, on the other side, gut microbiota is an important mediator of diet driven health effects. Addressing interplay between gut microbiota and dietary components and assessing the resulting health impact remains an attractive scientific topic over the last few decades. This review summarizes the most important findings of this research area published in the previous calendar year. Probiotics and prebiotics are traditionally the most frequently studied food components while novel studies indicate that their application could be expanded from gastrointestinal diseases to other conditions linked to gut microbiota dysbiosis, including behavioral and metabolic disorders. Various restrictive dietary interventions performed on healthy subjects and on subjects with impaired energy metabolism stress the importance of a nutrient source and the difference in individual microbiota composition as synthesis of specific bioactive microbial metabolites is dependent on both these factors. Novel research reports candidate microbiota metabolites derived from dietary components that have a crucial (either protective or hazardous) role in a disease development. Evaluation of dietary impact on both host and microbiota is very important as these responses are not always aligned, as shown for low gluten or low FODMAP (fermentable oligo-, di-, monosaccharides and polyols) diets. Therefore, studying microbiota becomes increasingly relevant in nutritional interventions, as promoting eubiosis of gut microbiota is indispensable for achieving long term health.