Processing of photonic information usually relies on electronics. Aiming to avoid the conversion between photonic and electronic signals, modulation of light with light based on optical nonlinearity has become a major research field and coherent optical effects on the nanoscale are emerging as new means of handling and distributing signals. Here we demonstrate that in slabs of linear material of sub-wavelength thickness optical manifestations of birefringence and optical activity (linear and circular birefringence and dichroism) can be controlled by a wave coherent with the wave probing the polarization effect. We demonstrate this in proof-of-principle experiments for chiral and anisotropic microwave metamaterials, where we show that the large parameter space of polarization characteristics may be accessed at will by coherent control. Such control can be exerted at arbitrarily low intensities, thus arguably allowing for fast handling of electromagnetic signals without facing thermal management and energy challenges.