Moisture-wicking fabrics first appeared in the market more than 20 years ago and have been mostly used for the clothing industry to improve comfort by soaking sweat when they are worn on human body. Extensive research has been conducted in this industry to improve properties and behavior of wicking fabrics. In recent years, wicking fabrics have been increasingly used as wicking geotextiles to remove moisture from soils to mitigate frost heave, poor drainage, and soil expansion problems. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of the development of wicking fabrics in the clothing industry and the applications of this technology as wicking geotextiles in geotechnical engineering. The review first discusses the basics of wicking fibers including types of polymers, geometries of fibers, fiber-water surface interaction, water transportation in fibers, water evaporation from fibers, fiber-water-soil interaction, and their influence factors, and then summarizes recent research and advances in the use of wicking geotextiles to solve moisture-related problems in geotechnical engineering, especially for roadways.