Abstract The current society is experiencing serious problems in terms of energy and environmental pollution. Environmentally friendly and renewable sources such as phase change materials have been employed as a reliable and effective source of energy storage. Phase change materials (PCMs) are known to absorb or release sizeable amount of energy during melting and solidification process. PCMs have been employed in both thermal protection and energy storage systems, more in active as well as passive cooling applications. However, PCMs are associated with low thermal conductivity, which hinders the process of heat rate exchange during the melting/solidification cycles. To improve the thermal conductivity of PCMs, various conductive fillers have been incorporated to such systems. Thermal cycle test is done to verify the stability of PCMs in thermal energy storage systems. This review emphasizes on the morphology, preparation methods and thermal cycle of various types of PCMs in the presence of conductive filler. Furthermore, the bibliometric analysis based on key research areas, top ten leading countries, and citations by country on phase change materials for energy storage research are reported in this review paper. The bibliometric analysis shows the dominance of the People’s Republic of China on PCMs for energy storage research.