The development of novel biomaterials able to control cell activities and direct their fate is warranted for engineering functional biological tissues, advanced cell culture systems, single-cell diagnosis as well as for cell sorting and differentiation. It is well established that crosstalk at the cell-material interface occurs and this has a profound influence on cell behaviour. However, the complete deciphering of the cell-material communication code is still far away. A variety of material surface properties have been reported to affect the strength and the nature of the cell-material interactions, including biological cues, topography and mechanical properties. Novel experimental evidence bears out the hypothesis that these three different signals participate in the same material-cytoskeleton crosstalk pathway via adhesion plaque formation dynamics. In this review, we present the relevant findings on material-induced cell response along with the description of cell behaviour when exposed to arrays of signals-biochemical, topographical and mechanical. Finally, with the aid of literature data, we attempt to draw unifying elements of the material-cytoskeleton-cell fate chain.