Researchers are facing significant challenges to develop robust energy-efficient clustering and routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in different areas such as military, agriculture, education, industry, environmental monitoring, etc. WSNs have made an everlasting imprint on everyone’s lives. The bulk of existing routing protocols has focused on cluster head election while disregarding other important aspects of routing including cluster formation, data aggregation, and security, among others. Although cluster-based routing has made a significant contribution to tackling this issue, the cluster head (CH) selection procedure may still be improved by integrating critical characteristics. Nature-inspired algorithms are gaining traction as a viable solution for addressing important challenges in WSNs, such as sensor lifespan and transmission distance. Despite this, the sensor node batteries cannot be changed when installed in a remote or unsupervised area due to their wireless nature. As a result, numerous researches are being done to lengthen the life of a node span. The bulk of existing node clustering techniques suffers from non-uniform cluster head distribution, an imbalanced load difficulty within clusters, concerning left-out nodes, coverage area, and placement according to a recent study. Metaheuristic algorithms (DE, GA, PSO, ACO, SFO, and GWO) have the advantages of being simple, versatile, and derivation-free, as well as effectively utilizing the network’s energy resource by grouping nodes into clusters to increase the lifespan of the entire network. In this paper, we explore recently used hybridization techniques (DE-GA, GA-PSO, PSO-ACO, PSO-ABC, PSO-GWO, etc.) for bio-inspired algorithms to improve the energy efficiency of WSNs. This paper also discusses how critical issues can be addressed by speeding up the implementation process, how more efficient data can be transferred, as well as how energy consumption can be reduced by using bio-inspired hybrid optimization algorithms.
