Heat sinks are vital components that dissipate thermal energy from high temperature systems, such as aero-space vehicles, electronic chips, and turbine engines. In the last few decades, considerable research efforts have been devoted to heat sinks to enhance heat dissipation, minimize temperature in the hot spot region, and reduce the temperature of hot section components. At present, the improvement of the thermal performance of heat sinks encounters many bottlenecks and demands the implementation of new designs, new materials, and flexible manufacturing. This study summarized the recent development of heat sinks over five years with a major review of heat transfer aspects, i.e., conduction, convection, radiation, phase change, and nanofluids technology, as well as perspectives in the aspect of structural design. The purpose of this work is to provide an overview of the existing studies that elevate the thermal performance of heat sinks and propose prospectives and suggestions for future studies.