A population of very faint X-ray binaries has been discovered in the last years thanks to the improvement in sensitivity and resolution of the new generations of X-ray missions. These systems show anomalously low luminosities, below 10^{36} ergs/sec, challenging our understanding of accretion physics and binary evolution models, and thereby opening new windows for both observational and theoretical work on accretion onto compact objects. XMM-Newton is playing a crucial role in the study of this dim family of objects thanks to its incomparable spectral capabilities at low luminosities. I will review the state-of-the-art of the field and present our XMM results in both black hole and neutron star objects. Finally, I will discuss the possibilities that the new generation of X-ray telescopes offer for this research line.