The development of more and more complex embedded systems constitutes a very challenging task for EDA experts, due to their HW/SW-mixed nature joint to the high demand for quality and reliability. Recently, both industrial engineers and academic researchers have developed a very large number of techniques for dynamic verification in terms of co-simulation, which, in particular, address the different nature of hardware and software components of an embedded system. However, a widely accepted methodology does not exist. Thus, this paper is intended to provide a general view on simulation-based modeling and verification strategies for developing embedded systems. In particular, the paper is focussed on describing state-of-the art co-simulation approaches and verification strategies based on fault simulation and assertion checking.