Natural rubber (NR) was the first elastomer used in the earliest pressure sensitive adhesives and still remains one of the major elastomers used in the manufacture of tape adhesives, so other types of elastomers, such as styrene-butadiene rubbers and SIS block copolymers, have replaced them in many applications.

Rubber is often a good choice for less expensive types of tapes. It has good initial adhesion properties, but doesn't have much creep resistance unless some method like partial crosslinking (vulcanization) has been employed to increase the cohesive strength. Crosslinking will also improve the holding power, and the solvent and heat resistance of natural rubber based adhesives.

Natural rubber based PSAs are often perfectly adequate for applications where the adhesive is subjected to low shear stress. They can be used at ambient and low temperature situations. The low cost of the adhesive together with a inexpensive backing makes them ideal for short-term tape applications. Besides natural rubber, many other rubbers are widely used in the manufacture of pressure sensitive tapes. They are synthetic rubbers derived from various monomers (isoprene, butadiene) and sometimes blended with natural rubber to improve its durability, oxygen and heat resistance.

Natural rubber PSAs, unlike PSA acrylics, have very little tack and have to be formulated with tackifiers and plasticizers to achieve pressure sensitive properties. Often other ingredients such as antioxidants, pigments and fillers are added to lower cost and to tailor and optimize their properties.