This study offers a comprehensive literature review on the gaps related to online learning efficiency and a structured conceptual model. The findings would be favourable for the learners, lecturers, future researchers, universities and other educational institutes. This study has presented the results of a systematic literature review on the factors affecting the efficiency of online learning and how they impact on satisfaction and commitment of learners. To conduct the literature review, approximately 40 empirical studies were reviewed and analysed. The results reveal that several factors, including academic issues, accessibility issues, technological skills, mental well-being and lecturer commitment, impact depreciating the online learning efficiency, which has made a significant impact on learner satisfaction and learner commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic. If the pandemic would continue, the institutes can use the deliverables to figure out the difficulties encountered by the learners during the pandemic, how to prevent those issues and to search for a solution: to re-open the universities following necessary health guidelines or to resume delivering education online. The literature evaluates the impact of online learning efficiency on learners’ satisfaction and commitment, and there are no adequate empirical studies available for testing the online learning efficiency with respect to learners’ satisfaction and commitment. Hence, in identifying several gaps related to online learning efficiency, this study offers a new structured conceptual model.