Pulsed light, pulsed electric field and cold plasma are three different non-thermal and non-chemical sterilization techniques that are becoming exceedingly important in food industry for pushing towards a reduced downstream CO2 footprint. These techniques are found especially promising to alter the physicochemical, thermal, structural, pasting and digestibility characteristics of starch. This review discusses the effects of experimental conditions as well as equipment selected for starch modification using these three methods and discusses plausible mechanisms behind the observed changes in functional properties such as cross linking, depolymerization, esterification and dehydrogenation, of modified starches from different sources. The morphology and crystal polymorph of the treated starch is observed to be retained following physical modification, yet exhibiting similar characteristics as that of depolymerized, crosslinked or esterified starches. The information compiled in this study is evaluated as important for the food industry to select treatment conditions for preparing tailor made functional starches, flours and films with these mild non-thermal and non-chemical approaches.