Climate-induced disasters are increasingly frequent and intense under climate change, significantly threatening human settlements. Temporary buildings (TBs) play a crucial role in providing people with basic shelters. Along with the energy-efficient, and carbon-neutral campaigns, it is imperative for TBs to evolve into sustainable buildings that can meet contemporary requirements. However, existing studies on TBs are still in a nascent stage, lacking a systematic and comprehensive approach towards sustainability. This paper aims to perform a comprehensive and systematic review of the TB sustainability. In particular, the definition and characteristics of TBs are analyzed, after which the environmental performance and evaluation methods of TBs are analyzed. It is found that indoor thermal environment of TBs is the main research direction, and there are several studies on the outdoor thermal environment. The life-cycle assessment is the primary evaluation method to examine TB sustainability. However, the methods in existing few studies are far from comprehensive. Overall, this study is expected to enable architects and researchers to gain a holistic understanding of TBs and sustainability issues.