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The ablation efficiency of organic polymers (polymethylmethacrylate - PMMA, polytetrafluoroethylene PTFE, polyethyleneterephtalate - PET, and polyimide - PI) and elemental solids (aluminum and silicon) by single pulses of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation emitted from Z-pinch, plasma-focus, and laser-produced plasmas was investigated. The ablation characteristics measured for these plasma-based sources will be compared with those obtained for irradiation of samples with XUV radiation generated by a free-electron laser (FEL). The Z-pinch was driven by the S-300 pulsed-power machine (Kurchatov lnstitute, Moscow) and the plasma focus was realized in the PF-1000 machine (Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, Warsaw). Higher temperature plasma than with the discharge plasmas was obtained by focusing the near-infrared (fundamental frequency) beam from the PALS high-power iodine laser system (Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague) on the surface of a metallic slab target or into single- and double-gas-puff target placed in a vacuum interaction chamber. Much softer (λ = 86 nm), but monochromatic and more intense, radiation is provided in many (repetition rate= 1 Hz) short pulses by the SASE-FEL at the Tesla Test Facility (DESY-HASYLAB, Hamburg). The role of nonthermal processes in XUV ablation will be evaluated. Mechanisms based on the nonthermal processes will be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]