Since it was first proposed that the innate immune system could recognise conserved microbial-associated molecular patterns (or PAMPs) through inherited receptors expressed by the host (termed pattern recognition receptors, or PRRs), several families of PRRs have been discovered and characterised. The most famous of these are the Toll-like receptors (TLRs), but there is growing appreciation that another large family of PRRs, known as the C-type lectin receptors (CLRs), also play a major role in antimicrobial immunity. CLRs have one or more carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs) that recognise a wide variety of carbohydrate ligands. Other members of the CLR family, which do not recognise carbohydrate ligands but contain similar protein folds called C-type lectin-like domains (CTLD), have also been discovered and are included in this large family whose members are divided into 17 groups relating to phylogeny and structure. Upon ligand binding, some CLRs (such as Dectin-1, Dectin-2, and Mincle) undergo intracellular signalling to drive cellular responses. Here, we outline the signalling pathways downstream of these receptors and discuss how they, and some other CLRs (including the Mannose Receptor, CLEC5A, CLEC9A, and DC-SIGN), contribute to immunity against fungi, bacteria, viruses, and parasites.