Vehicle nodes can join or exit the VANET, which is a decentralized sort of network. Due to the network's dynamic nature, reactive routing methods are used for path establishment from source to destination. Reviewing current protocols that are regularly utilized in various proposals and application scenarios is the goal of this work. This review helps when developing selection criteria or metrics for a new protocol. The systematic literature review (SLR) is used in this survey on VANET routing protocols to analyze the most recent state-of-art recommendations. Additionally, in this study, a number of proactive routing and reactive routing protocols are defined. Reactive routing protocols construct a route from source to destination using the most recent network data. The proactive routing protocols establish paths using network-defined information. Routing tables are used by proactive routing technologies to construct paths. Analysis shows that reactive routing strategies outperform proactive routing techniques. The research shows that speed and distance are the most frequent and adaptable metrics in a procedure. Finally, the application of various methods is discussed along with some feasible directions for further research.