In last years, freight transportation has undergone a rapid evolution and an emerging of new markets that probably entail the need for innovative mechanisms. Considering this remark, this paper presents a literature review on procurement mechanisms of freight transportation services, in order to conduct an up-to-date and comprehensive study of the existing mechanisms in literature. The aim of this work is to identify the trends and gaps from the points of view of practitioners and researchers. A total of 65 articles published within 1997–2016 period in reputed peer-review academic journals have been reviewed. A framework of 5 classification criteria is developed to have a systemic literature review. Some essential findings include a big focus on the reverse auction mechanism for transportation service procurement in literature, the limited number of empirical studies, a less focus on multimodal transportation and a less focus on subjective outcomes. This first reviewing step, deemed worthy of attention, offers a way to reach a clearer understanding of freight transportation service procurement mechanisms and to describe the new future perspectives.