PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to carry out the literature search on manufacturing organizations and total productive maintenance (TPM). This research aims at studying TPM attributes and barriers in line with the TPM framework for effective implementation of TPM. This study identifies the barriers in TPM implementation and the critical success factors (CSFs) for effective TPM implementation.Design/methodology/approachIn this manuscript, the study of TPM in the manufacturing sector has been considered a broad area of the research and emphasis on the TPM literature review, which primarily relates to the contribution of manufacturing sector and employment availability. Next sections covers TPM history, importance, justification, pillars, obstacles and TPM implementation procedure and models. Thereafter author identified the gaps in existing literature.FindingsThe existing literature shows that very few TPM implementation models are available for the manufacturing sector. The study also found that there is no systematically conducted large-scale empirical research which deals with TPM implementation. In order to bridge this gap, an investigation into the successful implementation of TPM in is truly needed. The finding of the literature shows that there is a need of TPM model specially developed for the manufacturing sector. The identified critical factors derived from the extensive literature review help to overcome the barriers for effective TPM implementation.Research limitations/implicationsThis review study is limited to Indian manufacturing industries. The identified TPM CSFs are based on the TPM pillars and their sub-factors. This cross-sectional study was based on the existing TPM model.Practical implicationsThis paper can increase the significance of TPM strategy, which could help managers of organizations to have a better understanding of the benefits of implementing TPM and therefore enable patient satisfaction within their organizations.Originality/valueThe literature review covers methodical identification of TPM barriers and critical factors for maintenance performance improvements. It allows the practitioners to apply these identified CSFs for TPM implementation to achieve an improvement in industrial performance and competitiveness.