In decapod crustacean and other aquatic invertebrate larvae, rates of survival, development and growth, as well as overall physiological fitness are affected by numerous extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Among the principal environmental variables, temperature, salinity, quality and quantity of nutrition, viral, bacterial and parasitic infections, as well as several chemical parameters of water quality and technical details of the rearing methods may influence the success of larval development in artificial cultures. The strength of those extrinsic effects depends also on interactions with intrinsic factors such as the larval stage, the stage of the moulting cycle, genetic factors (including programmed physiological changes that coincide with ecological transitions due to ontogenetic migrations), and on late effects of previous conditions affecting maternal or embryonic quality. The present review exemplifies the significance of several key factors, using various criteria for the assessment of isolated or combined effects and showing implications for larval rearing in research cultivation or aquaculture. Concluding from this general overview, it is suggested that future work should (1) pay more attention to potentially confounding effects of intrinsic factors, (2) aim at an improved standardization of criteria for effect assessment, (3) simultaneously use various criteria rather than only plain survival and/or development data, and (4) preferentially use sublethal criteria such as rates of growth or morphogenesis, or indices of physiological or biochemical condition. Together, these considerations should reduce misinterpretations of observed effects, enhance the reliability of conclusions and predictions based on rearing experiments, and eventually aid to the development of improved cultivation techniques for both basic scientific research and commercial aquaculture.