In image processing, an essential and most challenging process is removing the noise from the color images. Images are often corrupted by impulse noise during image acquisition and transmission. Therefore, impulse noise reduction is the most crucial aspect during image transmission. Over the past decades, several approaches have been proposed for removing the impulse noise from the images in such a way that the most significant information of the images is preserved. Hence, the original image quality can be restored efficiently. This paper presents a detailed survey of impulse noise removal techniques. Initially, different techniques are analysed and its limitations are addressed. Moreover, performance of all techniques was compared to identify their effectiveness for further improvement on impulse noise removal techniques. Finally, some future contributions are also provided to improve the impulse noise removal techniques significantly.