A system whose elementary function is not computation but is controlled by a computational system (microprocessor, microcontroller, digital system processors, custom-made hardware with a dedicated software) embedded within it is referred to as an Embedded System (ES). These systems are used in many applications like consumer electronics, business and office equipment, communication systems, automobiles, industrial control, medical systems, etc. Over the years, ES has gone through a radical renovation from traditional single-functioned system to a novel class of Intelligent Embedded Systems (IES), which are flexible and offer an improved consumer experience. The resurgence of Computational Intelligence (CI) paradigms has led to the design of IES which use adaptive mechanisms to exhibit intelligent behavior in multifaceted and dynamic real-world environments. CI offers flexibility, independent behavior, and robustness against changing real-world environment and communication failures. However, ES designers are generally unaware of the prospective CI paradigms, challenges, and opportunities available in the literature. This gap makes association and expansion of the use of CI paradigms in ES design difficult. This paper aims to fulfill this gap and nurtures collaboration by proposing a detailed introduction to ES and their characteristics. An extensive survey of CI applications as well as enabling technologies for IES design is presented and will serve as a guide for using CI paradigms for the design of IES.