Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic and comprehensive review of the existing literature on the determinants of firms reporting practices. Design/methodology/approach Following a systematic method, the sample literature of 135 studies was collected from the Scopus database. These studies were evaluated in terms of the theoretical lenses applied in the literature, yearly trend, regional distribution, research settings and prior studies finding to provide some recommendations for further research. Findings The investigation revealed that the literature was more interested in the agency theory in investigating the drivers of voluntary reporting such as company size, age, leverage, liquidity, profitability, corporate governance and ownership structure. Although firm-specific determinants were the most examined in the previous studies, however, the result is still inconclusive. Also, limited work was found on the country-related factors, while internal audit impact has yet to be explored. Originality/value Being the first of its kind, this research provides a comprehensive review of the current research landscape on the drivers of environmental or social disclosure and highlights several interesting opportunities for future research.