The evaporation of a nanocolloidal sessile droplet exhibits preferential particle assembly, nanoporous shell formation and buckling to form cavities with unique morphological features. Here, we have established many universal trends that explain the buckling dynamics under one umbrella irrespective of hydrophobicity, evaporation mode and particle loading. We provide a regime map explaining the droplet morphology and buckling characteristics for droplet evaporation on various substrates. Specifically, we find that the final droplet volume and the radius of curvature at the buckling onset are universal functions of particle concentration. Furthermore, we establish that post-buckling cavity growth is evaporation driven regardless of the substrate. © 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry.