In this paper, the concept of network distance prediction is firstly presented, and a brief discussion is made on different classification criteria. Then, based on the difference in prediction mechanisms, the existing research on distance prediction is classified into three types: the virtual coordinate based prediction mechanism, the network topology based prediction mechanism and the network proximity estimation mechanism. After a comparison between among the different prediction mechanisms, a comprehensive survey on network distance prediction is made, and the existing prediction mechanisms and their results are analyzed, Furthermore, the shortcomings and problems are outlined. In the end, the future trend of network distance prediction is discussed.