<p>Due to the evolution of Internet of Things (IoTs), Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are becoming more popular in a variety of applications pertaining to real time environment. WSNs consist of large scale distributed networks, which compromising of tiny sensor nodes which are deployed in the given geographical environment to sense the natural phenomenon and transmit the sensed information to Base Station (BS) via collaborative processing. Since, nodes of wireless sensor networks are operated on battery which cannot be rechargeable and replaceable. Due to this prolonging the life time of the nodes of the network is a major challenge. From the literature, various methods have been proposed to extend the life time of the nodes in the network. Among them, cluster based routing is widely employed for lifetime optimization of the nodes in WSNs. In this paper, a comprehensive survey on various cluster based routing protocols are carried out, to highlight their advantages and limitations in terms of nodes lifetime, residual energy, packet delivery ratio, delay and pay the way for future direction to improve the cluster based routing protocol in wireless sensor networks.</p>