Understanding the defect characterization of electronic and mechanical components is a crucial step in diagnosing component lifetime. Technologies for determining reliability, such as thermal modeling, cohesion modeling, statistical distribution, and entropy generation analysis, have been developed widely. Defect analysis based on the irreversibility entropy generation methodology is favorable for electronic and mechanical components because the second law of thermodynamics plays a unique role in the analysis of various damage assessment problems encountered in the engineering field. In recent years, numerical and theoretical studies involving entropy generation methodologies have been carried out to predict and diagnose the lifetime of electronic and mechanical components. This work aimed to review previous defect analysis studies that used entropy generation methodologies for electronic and mechanical components. The methodologies are classified into two categories, namely, damage analysis for electronic devices and defect diagnosis for mechanical components. Entropy generation formulations are also divided into two detailed derivations and are summarized and discussed by combining their applications. This work is expected to clarify the relationship among entropy generation methodologies, and benefit the research and development of reliable engineering components.