Abstract The fabrication lightweight aggregates in recent years has included the addition of industrial by-products in the expanded clay manufacture as modifier agents of the expansion capacity, and also as a destination for the disposal of waste and residues in countries where lightweight concrete is used for the construction of high-rise structures. This article provides a review of the use of by-products as additives in the production of lightweight aggregates from expanded clay available in the literature. As a methodology, the bibliographic search was used through the consultation of specialized databases such as Sciencedirect and other documentary sources of open access scientific journals in several countries. The selection criteria for documents were specified according to the frequency the by-product use. 58 references on investigations by-products addition to the lightweight aggregates production were revised. In conclusion, the study of the use of Colombian byproducts as additives in the expanded clay aggregates production is suggested as a research subject due to the absence of articles related to this topic.