Probabilistic record linkage regards the use of stochastic decision models to solve the problem of record linkage (also known as record matching). Data quality has became a key aspect in many institutions and the demand for novel, effective techniques is increasing. Record linkage in general has been studied in the last three decades and a solid probabilistic decision framework has been proposed along with several extensions and specific estimation methods. This paper is a survey work narrowed to the most recent and promising approaches also including a selection of data cleansing tools based on probabilistic decision models.