As one of the leading journals in building energy studies, Energy and Buildings has witnessed the great efforts in the research community and professional society in advancing the state-of-the-art of HVAC systems since its founding. In this paper, a critical review on the development of advanced, energy-efficient HVAC systems in the past 30 years is presented. Specifically, attention is paid on stratified ventilation, heat recovery ventilation, thermal storage, indirect evaporate cooling technology, and the independent control of temperature and humidity design which involves radiant cooling system and solid/liquid desiccant system. The review covers, but is not limited to, mechanism investigation, numerical model development, experimental verification/calibration, and equipment development. Areas that have not yet been studied in-depth were exposed. The limits and future application potentials of each technology were also discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.