Multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) techniques constitute a practical approach for solving complex problems involving multiple and often conflicting criteria. Decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is a popular MADM technique with both admirers and critics. This study presents a comprehensive review of DEMATEL through bibliometric analysis using the Scopus database. This article examined 3,521 papers published in journals, conferences or books between 1981 and 2023. We examined a few parameters for commenting on the performance of the technique. Among them are research outputs, the network of DEMATEL users, implementation subject areas, research zones, financing opportunities and publication hosts and their impact trends. We conclude from the findings of this study that the DEMATEL is capable of dealing with modern problem-solving in future environments. Although the growth of new MADMs is obvious, based on the gathered data, we forecast that more than 776 documents will be published in 2025 using DEMATEL for problem-solving. This expanding tendency will continue in the future. As distinct MADMs have diverse constraints, foundations, computing complexity and standpoints, which result in different performances, outmoded low-performance MADM techniques must be reported by researchers to continue this paper's objective to minimize ambiguity among decision-makers and practitioners. To facilitate such a comparison in the future, a quantitative performance coefficient was also developed here.