Abstract Software design patterns have a considerable impact on the software development life cycle. Design pattern (DP) is a reliable and reusable solution provided by software experts to obtain quality software design. However, due to the large number of design patterns, selecting the appropriate one is quite difficult. To overcome this difficulty, several approaches with different methods have been presented to suggest the appropriate DP. Despite conducting a number of studies that have explored some aspects of this field, such as design pattern selection tools and techniques, there is a need for a deeper understanding, analysis, classification, and thorough review of the design pattern selection process. So far, no systematic review of design pattern selection approaches is available. This paper aims to classify existing approaches, provide several criteria for comparing approaches, analyze each one, and identify and analyze the most important elements in this field, including open issues, data sets, and so on. The present investigation paper will help future research to employ the existing approaches taking into account the specification of each one and it also raises awareness about the approaches used in previous research and their potential limitations.

Summary Nowadays, with the development of software reuse, software developers are paying more attention to component‐related technologies, which have been mostly applied in the development of large‐scale complex applications to enhance the productivity of software development and accelerate time to market. Component‐based software development is well acknowledged as a methodology, which establishes the reusability of software and reduces the development cost effectively. Two crucial problems in component‐based software development are component identification and component selection. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a reference point for future research by categorizing and classifying different component identification and component selection methods and emphasizing their respective strengths and weaknesses. We hope that it can help researchers find the current status of this issue and serve as a basis for future activities.