In recent years, FIR and sub-mm observations have considerably improved our knowledge of the dust component in local galaxies. Dust is found to scale with the stellar mass and luminosity; it is closely associated to the atomic and molecular gas content, and to the ISM metallicity. Yet there are still several open questions, from its exact amount and optical properties, to its distribution relative to the other galactic components, to its heating agents and the association of dust emission and SFR. I will review our current understanding of these issues, with a focus on submm observations from the Herschel Space Observatory.