Vibration assisted welding (VAW) has emerged as a successful replacement for heat treatments and post-weld vibration treatments of arc welds to reduce residual stresses and distortions and thus to improve its mechanical properties. This review paper tries to create a knowledge platform for such a next generation research by consolidating the findings, merits, demerits and shortfalls identified hitherto in the field of VAW. This paper presents a review on the various techniques and processes of applying vibration to the welding system and their effects on microstructure, mechanical properties and residual stress of welds, and the directions for future research are presented. Vibration of workpiece during welding, oscillation of weld pool, oscillation of molten droplet, oscillation of welding arc and vibration of welding electrode were identified from the literature as the possible ways of imparting vibration. The advancement in the direction of computational work is also observed. © 2016 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.