This research paper aims at searching a optimized cost path for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) applying Shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA). The AUV is assumed to travel in a three dimensional obstacle rich underwater environment. The path optimization problem is intended to locate a path from the start to termination point without colliding with any obstacle during the travel. The application of path searching algorithm results in finding a optimized cost path as summation of distance traveled from source to destination and additional distance traveled by AUV to avoid collision with obstacles in the path. The MATLAB platform is used for simulation. The results obtained by using SFLA is compared with the results obtained by employing Particle swarm optimization (PSO) and Grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm for finding optimized path of an AUV. The comparison results show that SFLA is better in reducing the path cost which in turn increases the energy efficiency of AUV employed in any underwater mission.