Day by day network and internet applications is becoming very popular. Sensitive information requires security and safety measures. Security is the most challenging aspect in the internet and network applications. Encryption algorithm provides the necessary protection against the data intruders' attacks by converting information from its normal form into an unreadable form. The majority of current web authentication is built on username/password. And the password replacement offers more security, but it is very much difficult to use and expensive to deploy. Security of data can be done by a technique called cryptography. So everybody say that cryptography is a developing technology, which is important for network security. Cryptography in the past was used in keeping military information secure to protect the national security. However, the use was limited. At present, the range of cryptography applications have been expanded a lot in the modern area after the development of communication means; cryptography is essentially required to ensure that data are protected against penetrations and to prevent the practice of spying. Cryptography is a developing technology, which is important for network security. Study on cryptography is still in its developing stages and a considerable research effort is still required for secured communication. This paper talks about the state of the art for a broad range of cryptographic algorithms that are used in networking applications.