Source location privacy has become a critical issue in networked systems. At present, many applications are utilizing networked systems because of the popularity of smartphone users. Protecting the privacy of the source location is important to keep private user data safe from people who want to use location data for criminal purposes. This article gives a comprehensive examination of all the current research initiatives, procedures, and strategies of implementation designed to improve source location privacy in networked systems. The methods were classified as per their basic ideas, and ratings were given on the basis of their effectiveness, usability, and shortcomings. Furthermore, this study identifies open research challenges and suggests potential opportunities for future studies to enhance the state-of-the-art in source location privacy protection.