Residual stresses are stresses that remain in a solid material after the original cause of the stresses has been removed. Residual stress may be desirable or undesirable. Residual stresses remain in a body even after the removal of external forces and temperature gradients from the body. These stresses may prove to be detrimental to the service life of the body, affecting its fatigue life and dimensional stability. During the past few decades, various methods have emerged as feasible alternatives for stress relief such as shot peening, mechanical tumbling, Vibratory Stress Relief (VSR). This paper is an attempt to review VSR as a viable stress relief method, discussing its variants. Residual stresses can occur through a variety of mechanisms including inelastic (plastic) deformations, temperature gradients or structural changes .