AbstractThe purpose of this article is to provide a survey of the various stages in the development of response surface methodology (RSM). The coverage of these stages is organized in three parts that describe the evolution of RSM since its introduction in the early 1950s. Part I covers the period, 1951–1975, during which the so‐called classical RSM was developed. This includes a review of basic experimental designs for fitting linear response surface models, in addition to a description of methods for the determination of optimum operating conditions. Part II, which covers the period, 1976–1999, discusses more recent modeling techniques in RSM, in addition to a coverage of Taguchi's robust parameter design and its response surface alternative approach. Part III provides a coverage of further extensions and research directions in modern RSM. This includes discussions concerning response surface models with random effects, generalized linear models, and graphical techniques for comparing response surface designs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.This article is categorized under:Statistical Models > Linear ModelsStatistical Models > Nonlinear Models