In this paper we consider the most recent channel-aware performance optimization approaches primarily for cellular wireless networks. This survey is a summary of several core research works on the effective design and implementation principles of the advanced cross-layer resource allocation and link adaptation schemes. Following the original papers, we emphasize the three key performance metrics: spectral efficiency, energy efficiency and quality-of-service perception of wireless clients. Further, we present a systematic overview of relevant literature covering the main challenges and open problems of existing optimization techniques. We conclude that the state-of-the-art approaches should be extended further to take into account additional optimization parameters and aim at higher degree of control over trade-offs associated with the key metrics.