•Literatures on simulation-based building envelope optimization were reviewed.•Optimization algorithms, objectives and popular tools were compared and discussed.•Single-objective optimization was the major measure while energy was the top concern.•Limitation in comfort evaluation and occupant behavior requires further attention.•Comprehensive building envelope design involves energy efficiency and comfort issue. Green building design is presently among the hottest research topics in the world. Maintaining a comfortable indoor environment with minimum energy consumption is a challenging task that attracts the attention of experts around the world. With the recent advances in building performance simulation tools, it is now possible to predict and assess building performance at the design stage. Simulation-based optimization of building design is a potential application that connects building performance simulation with optimization algorithms. In this paper, numerous studies on the optimization of building envelope design were assembled and reviewed. Popular optimization algorithms were compared and discussed. Targeted objectives were collected and summarized. Based on the statistical results, the limitations in this research area were identified, and some potential breakthroughs were suggested.