Purpose: This study aims to provide the current and future state of United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the higher education institutions (HEIs). Since the SDGs' proliferation, HEIs have played a crucial part in meeting the goals. Despite the central role of HEIs in accomplishing the SDGs, there has been little attention in providing a comprehensive overview of the SDGs in relation to HEIs. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 280 publications in the Web of Science database were analyzed through a bibliometric approach consisting of citation analysis, co-citation analysis and cooccurrence of keywords analysis. This review explores the current state of SDGs, its central themes of research streams and predicts future direction in the context of HEIs. Findings: The findings would assist stakeholders to strategize the SDGs on HEIs, including the government and policymakers, university top management, benefactors and academics. Three main research streams were observed sustainable curriculum; challenges and barriers of SDGs; and COVID-19 and health management. Research limitations/implications: Implications suggest that to achieve the stipulated goals in the SDGs, proper planning and strategy should be aligned proportionate to the national agenda. Originality/value: This paper presents a novel knowledge structure by mapping the most relevant SDGs in the context of HEIs based on bibliometric analysis.