Various aspects of structural optimization techniques under transient loads are extensively reviewed. The main themes of the paper are treatment of time dependent constraints, calculation of design sensitivity, and approximation. Each subject is reviewed with the corresponding papers that have been published since 1970s. The treatment of time dependent constraints in both the direct method and the transformation method is discussed. Two ways of calculating design sensitivity of a structure under transient loads are discussed - direct differentiation method and adjoint variable method. The approximation concept mainly focuses on re- sponse surface method in crashworthiness and local approximation with the intermediate variable Especially, as an approximated optimization technique, Equivalent Static Load method which takes advantage of the well-established static response optimization technique is introduced. And as an application area of dynamic response optimization technique, the structural optimization in flexible multibody dynamic systems is re- viewed in the viewpoint of the above three themes