Since welding started to be used on a large-scale basis in engineering, distortion has become a stringent problem for the industry, mostly for shipyards. This paper aims at bringing together the result of large amount of research on distortion and mitigation techniques, in order to support further practical research on the topic. Phenomena, such as mostly used treatments for reducing distortion were explained in detail. In addition to this, inherent strain theory was presented for offering a starting point to those who shall perform thermal analysis in welded structures.