Tra te e il mare received a nomination for Album of the Year at the Premio Italiano della Musica, while Pausini was nominated for Best Female Artist during the same award ceremony, as well as in the first edition of the Italian Music Awards, held in February 2001. A Spanish-language version of the album, titled Entre tú y mil mares, was released shortly before the Italian-language edition, on 11 September 2000. At the 2001 Latin Grammy Awards, the record received two nominations for Best Female Pop Vocal Album and Best Engineered Album, while Pausini and Alfredo Cerruti were in the shortlist for Producer of the Year.
Pausini's first international greatest hits album was released in 2001, both in an Italian-language version and in a Spanish-language edition, titled The Best of Laura Pausini: E ritorno da te and Lo mejor de Laura Pausini: Volveré junto a ti, respectively. The first single, "E ritorno da te"—"Volveré junto a ti" in Spanish—was accompanied by a music video shot by Italian film director Gabriele Muccino. The album also includes the single "Una storia che vale" and features guest appearances by Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil in "Seamisai" and by Italian singer Nek, who plays bass in "Non c'è".
Supported by the 2001/2002 World Tour, which started in Miami on 19 October 2001, the greatest hits became one of Pausini's biggest commercial successes, selling 700,000 copies in Italy and 800,000 copies in France. During the concert she gave in Milan on 2 December 2001 as part of the tour, Pausini also recorded her first live video album, titled Live 2001-2002 World Tour and released on 30 November 2002.
In 2001, Pausini started working with producers such as Patrick Leonard and John Shanks on her first English-language album, From the Inside. Released in Canada, Mexico and the United States by Atlantic Records on 5 November 2002, the album did not get the expected success, selling 50,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen-Soundscan. The album singles "Surrender" and "If That's Love" reached the top spot on the Hot Dance Club Songs Chart, but Pausini, disappointed at her English-language debut being ignored in the U.S. outside the club scene, abandoned the promotion for From the Inside due to her label promoting it as a dance album instead of a pop album as she requested. The album was later released in Europe too, selling 800,000 copies worldwide.
Although Pausini is mainly a melodic pop singer, her musical style evolved during her career, with influences from various genres, including Latin music, soul music and rock music. In 2001, David Cazares of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel described Pausini's music as "an assortment of glossy and sentimental pop ballads backed by light rock instrumentation and synthesized strings". In 2006, The Washington Post's Achy Obejas wrote that Pausini is distinguished from other Latin pop singer by her sophistication and her European sensibilities. According to Musica e dischi's Antonio Orlando, the key elements in Pausini's style are romanticism, optimism, melancholy and surrounding melodies.