The prehistoric cavemen‟s earliest form of communication was gesture. Human civilization has progressed to a point where verbal communication is quite well developed. On the other hand, nonverbal interaction has not lost its importance. Nonverbal interaction is not utilized only for physically handicapped people but also for a variety of uses like variety of fields, including aviation, surveying and music. It is the most effective way to communicate with the computer without the usage of other devices like keyboard or a mouse. Researchers all over the world are working on developing a reliable and well-organized gesture identification system, particularly hand gesture identification, for a variety of applications. Data collecting, gesture modelling, feature extraction, and hand gesture identification are the primary phases involved in hand gesture recognition system. With the processes listed above, there are various sub steps and approaches. Researchers have used a variety of algorithms or created their own. The current study effect examines the work done over previous two decades and makes a quick comparison to understand the problems and limitations that these systems face. Finally the properties of a reliable and efficient hand gesture system were defined.