Symmetric encryption uses a shared secret key between the sender and receiver to encrypt and decrypt messages. It is faster than asymmetric encryption but requires secure key exchange. Asymmetric encryption uses separate public and private keys, where the public key is used to encrypt and the private key decrypts, allowing secure communication without pre-shared keys. Common symmetric algorithms are AES and DES, while asymmetric algorithms include RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and ECDSA.