This contribution focuses on some non-classical aspects of capillary phenomena, mostly omitted in classical approaches, in particular the non-isothermal aspects. A systematic thermodynamic approach is proposed that allows a rigorous formulation of the governing equations in non-isothermal situations, by introducing the surface effects in the energy and entropy balances. The energetic quantities (work and heat) are calculated in a number of examples, such as adiabatic and isothermal wetting/dewetting of a porous medium, nanofluids heating, emulsion split, and new equilibrium criteria are derived were appropriate.