Most of the software projects fail to meet the desired level of quality and standards due to different types of defects introduced during the course of requirement solicitation, designing and development. These defects inexorably hinder the secure deployment or smooth operations of the software systems. One of the key reasons for this misfortune is the lack of proper defect prevention planning while formulating the software architecture. Defect prevention needs to be a thorough and critical phase because it has a direct impact on quality of the product which cannot be compromised. This paper looks into different defect prevention techniques and analyses them critically. The scope of this study is restricted to the identification of the modern trends in defect prevention.