Stars, the most fundamental building blocks of galaxies, are born within the clouds of gas and dust and and during their lives they enrich the gas and the interstellar medium (ISM) with heavy elements, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays all of which strongly affects the subsequent formation of stars and their host galaxy. To understand the evolution and appearance of galaxies it is therefore crucial to study the interplay between stars and the ISM. Putting together the infrared, submm, and radio observations of nearby galaxies, we have studied the physical properties of the dusty and magnetized ISM in nearby galaxies to address the pressing questions: How the ISM components are inter-connected and how their physical properties change in different galactic environments e.g. star forming regions, spiral arms, nucleus and outer disks? In what extent the star formation influences the physical properties and structure of the ISM in a galaxy? I will show the effect of star formation on the dust emission properties, interstellar magnetic fields, cosmic ray electron energy index and further discuss the important factors in the energy balance of the ISM at different scales in M33, M31, NGC6946, and other nearby galaxies.