Purpose - Many road authorities considered contracting out road maintenance to the private sector based on performance measures as an alternative and better solution than traditional methods of contracting. It highlights issues of interest to road authorities in the context of saving maintenance costs and managing contracting times effectively. This method is named as performance based maintenance by contracting (PBMC) and has substantial success records in minimizing infrastructure maintenance costs in many developed and developing countries over the last two decades. It has received the attention of researchers and practitioners. However, the literature on PBMC is reasonably high although the concept of PBMC is relatively new. The purpose of this paper is to carry out a comprehensive state of the art review of the literature that has been conducted in the recent years. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 62 published report and journal articles related to performance based maintenance by contracting for road network system has been analysed and reviewed in this paper. Findings - This paper analyses the literature on PBMC and presents examples of developed and developing countries that have been successfully maintaining their road network systems using PBMC as their preferred method of contracting. Practical implications - The potential of reducing maintenance costs, increasing the quality of works and reducing the chance of corruption in the long run in developing countries are the challenging issues for PBMC, which needs more attention. This paper can be used as a base or platform for future research in the area of PBMC such as developing optimal policies and cost models. Originality/value - This paper would be useful for the research on PBMC. It would be beneficial for the engineers or professionals in improving the performance of road maintenance and management.