In the last three decades, pulsed high voltage discharge technology has offered promising techniques for the treatment of wastewaters released to the environment by industry. A significant effort has been directed towards understanding the processes that occur during the discharge of solutions for a variety of reactor configurations. This review presents the disadvantages and advantages of different reactors based on discharge phase. Detailed information is also provided on the principals used in each technique and the advantages and disadvantages associated with each method. Finally, a discussion on the different discharge areas is presented.