Gesture elicitation is a fundamental method for constructing gesture-based interactive systems. Existing research has shown that this method allows users' knowledge to serve as a design basis, minimizing biases that may occur from relying excessively on an expert's preference. However, how to conduct effective gesture elicitation studies remains an uncertain and open-ended issue. Through a thorough literature review, this study aims to identify important aspects that have significant impacts on the implementation of the elicitation study. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) Factors such as the choice of participants, referents, elicitation techniques, elicitation environments, and tasks can have a significant impact on the results of gesture elicitation; (2) Researchers have proposed various metrics for selecting gesture sets and evaluating their effects, but there is still debate over the sufficiency of these metrics; (3) Various methods have been proposed to improve gesture elicitation research, but there is still a lack of broad consensus on the best practices for gesture elicitation research, how to evaluate and report results, and how to compare results across studies. These findings indicate that gesture elicitation has become a valuable research and practical tool, but further study is needed to utilize it better.