Over a while, changes in the environment, such as climate, weather, pollution, will have a more significant impact on the structures in different ways. Hence, continuous monitoring of the structures plays a vital role in order to have a predefined prediction of the structural damages that can be caused by the change in the environment. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is critical in determining the life expectancy of civil structures. The advancement of various sensors and data acquisition systems (DAQ) has enabled more accurate prediction of the life span of civil structures subjected to static and dynamic loading conditions. Hence, SHM is a critical area of research to understand the condition and lifetime of structures such as dams. This article provides detailed insight into the base failures in dam structures such as soil erosion, toe erosion, and gully formation. Also, scouring’s impact on the dam structures was discussed in this review article. This review article investigates in detail the detection and analysis of dam structure damage. © 2022 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.