The decline of fossil fuel reserves and stringent environmental regulations demands an extensive use of renewable energy sources. Wind turbine power generation is rapidly increasing, and researchers oversee new challenges and solutions every day. This paper critically reviews the flow control techniques and strategies for improving the wind turbine efficiency. The development of controlling and mitigation strategies for dynamic stall requires an understanding of flow mechanisms such as wake formation, downstream vortex, flow separation, and vortex shedding. The aforesaid phenomena significantly lead to the formation of dynamic stall (Tip speed ratio < 4). This review paper extensively discusses the mechanism of dynamic stall formation and its effects on the performance of vertical axis wind turbines along with the recent developments in mitigation techniques (enhances power coefficient by 50–60 %). It highlights the main aspects involved in performance and stability enhancement of vertical axis wind turbines such as objective functions, design constraints, airfoil dynamics, models, flow control, and optimization techniques. The results of various mitigation approaches are critically analysed, and the most effective techniques are identified. Hence, this review article provides a complete information on the constraints and solution strategies involved in vertical axis wind turbine and opens new possibilities for further research for enhancing the aerodynamic performance.