The significance of wireless networks is expanding very rapidly, and their increasing pervasiveness makes them a vital component of the activities involved in living in the modern world. While technological advancement in wireless networks offers numerous advantages, it also presents challenges like securing wireless networks. An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is well-known for detecting and preventing various security threats in such a network environment. However, IDS deployed over wireless networks face various challenges due to infrastructure setup and computational inabilities. Motivated by these observations, this paper presents a comprehensive survey on IDS in a wireless network. It introduces some essential first-line defensive mechanisms. Further, infer the requirement for IDS in a wireless network. The paper provides a detailed analysis of IDS that includes the discussion of intruder type, intrusion behavior, and security basics. The analysis also includes different variants of IDS used in a wireless network. This paper thoroughly discusses the approaches to designing an effective IDS, illuminating readers to become aware of the current state-of-the-art techniques in wireless network domain. The study details many critical attacks that can compromise a wireless network. It covers the IDS frameworks to protect against different attacks. It delves into the diverse applications of IDS in wireless networks. The study discusses the challenges and limitations associated with modern wireless networks. This study encourages the young researchers to do their research in the domain of cyber security.