I find that for herbs such as basil, chives, dill, parsely and cilantro, using a pair of clean kitchen scissors to cut them makes them have much nicer, cleaner edges and the herbs do not seem to wilt as quickly. I grab a bunch and hold them tightly together over my bowl and snip away!

Basil can be cut in the chiffonade style this way too-just take a bunch of leaves, put them one on top of another, and then roll up the leaves into a little tube. Snip the leaves across the tube in thin rows, and you have pretty basil strips just like the pros!