This paper is intended to review the studies of transit network design based on the city layout. In the theory system, the city layout is considered as the most important factor. The transit network design based on the city layout is one of the major development directions for transit network design. Firstly, the conventional design methods over the past 50 years are reviewed. Then, the design methods based on the city layout are analyzed. The core theory and its development are summarized. Three key developed studies are analyzed, including network structure, travel demand and flexible transit. Finally, the future developments are overviewed. The results indicate that the design methods mainly focus on the city layout, the travel demand is regarded as continuous approximation, the decision variables are simplified, and the optimization result can be obtained by the analytical model. The field application results present that the design methods are suitable for high performance bus network, such as BRT and express bus system. Thus, these studies can help the strategical transit network design under the background of the change of the city layout. The future studies can concentrate more on the city layout, transit network’s structures, and travel demand. In addition, more scientific design methods and practical applications should be conducted.