Combustion instability remains a critical issue limiting the development of low-emission, lean-premixed (LPM) gas turbine combustion systems. The present work provides a comprehensive review of the advances made over the past two decades in this area. Recent developments in industrial dry-low-emission (DLE) swirl-stabilized combustors are first summarized. Various swirl injector Configurations and related flow characteristics, including vortex breakdown, precessing vortex core, large-scale coherent structures, and liquid fuel atomization and spray formation, are discussed. Nonlinear behaviors of combustion processes observed in combustors are described. The influence of fuel preparation, combustor geometry, and operating conditions on combustion characteristics in swirl-stabilized combustors is examined. The mechanisms driving combustion instabilities, including hydrodynamic instabilities, equivalence ratio fluctuations, flame surface variations, and oscillatory liquid fuel atomization and evaporation are investigated. Instability stabilization methods, including both passive and active control techniques, are also reviewed. Finally, recent progress in both analytical modeling and numerical simulation of swirl-stabilized combustion are surveyed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.