Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are considerably used for various environmental sensing applications. The architecture and internal specifications of WSNs have been chosen based on the requirements of particular applications. On this basis, WSNs consist of resource (energy and memory)-limited wireless sensor nodes. WSNs initiate data communication from source to destination via physical layer management principles, channel slot scheduling principles (time division multiple access), wireless medium access control (WMAC) protocols, wireless routing protocols and application protocols. In this environment, the development of WMAC principles, routing protocols and channel allotment schemes play crucial roles in network communication phases. Consequently, these layering functions consume more energy at each sensor node, which leads to minimal network lifetime. Even though the channel management schemes, medium control protocols and routing protocols are functionally suitable, the excessive energy consumption affects the overall network performance. In this situation, energy optimization algorithms are advised to minimize the resource wastage of WSNs during regular operations (medium control and routing process). Many research works struggle to identify the optimal energy-efficient load balancing strategies to improve WSN functions. With this in mind, the proposed article has conducted a detailed literature review and notable experimental comparisons on energy-efficient MAC protocols, channel scheduling policies and energy-efficient routing protocols. To an extent, the detailed analysis over these wireless network operations helps to understand the benefits and limitations of recent research works. In the experimental section of this article, eight existing techniques are evaluated under energy optimization strategies (WMAC, channel allocation, sleep/wake protocols, integrated routing and WMAC policies, balanced routing and cooperative routing). The proposed review and the classified technical observations collected from notable recent works have been recognized as crucial contributions. The results infer the suggestions for feasible WSN communication strategies with optimal channel management policies and routing policies. Notably, the simulation results show that cross-layer or multi-layer energy optimization policies perform better than homogeneous energy optimization models.