Water pipeline leakage detection is still an important issue, particularly for the development of smart cities. Thus, this paper reviews water pipeline leakage detection techniques, which can be classified into three different categories, namely, software-based, hardware-based, and conventional methods. We compare the advantages and disadvantages for all the methods in the groups and thoroughly discuss the hardware-based method, which is our focus. Specifications on water pipeline testbeds used in the previous works are also highlighted. Since many recent techniques are based on accelerometer or vibration sensors, a comparative study that includes the cost and accuracy in identifying the pipeline leaks is presented. The theoretical computation of the vibration induced from our water pipeline testbed is also demonstrated and compared with the actual vibration data collected from the experimental works using three different sensors, namely, MPU6050, MMA7361, and ADXL335.