The term Big Data refers to an extensive collections of digital data generating every second. Produced datasets come in structured, semi-structured, and unstructured formats throughout the world, which is difficult for the traditional database management systems to analyze. Recently, big data analytics emerges as an essential research area due to the popularity of the Internet and the advent of new Web technologies. This growing area of research represents a multidisciplinary that attracts researchers from various research fields. Interested researchers are invited to design, develop, and implement several tools, technologies, architecture, and platforms for analyzing these large volumes of data. This paper begins with a brief introduction to big data and related concepts, including the main characteristics of big data, followed by discussions of the most significant open research challenges and emerging trends. Next, we review a study of big data analytics, the advantages of using big data solutions, and the preliminary assessments required before migrating from traditional solutions. Finally, we present a review of the recent main applications to obtain a broad perspective of big data analytics.