Communities in Nigeria, often contend with various social, economic and environmental issues. These problems–insecurity, illiteracy, inadequate infrastructure, lack of opportunity for growth, pollution, poor health facility as well as other social issues, have significant impact on the development of communities in the country. Although, solutions to these issues, require the attention of government, however, the failure of government’s top-down planning approach adopted long ago, have made it difficult for communities to achieve significant progress in addressing these challenges, hence, the reliance on local participation through community based organizations. The study explores literatures on the role of community-based organizations in community development in Nigeria. The study adopts content analysis with in-depth literature review as methodology. Reviews of related literatures indicate that churches, women associations, healthcare agencies, town unions, age groups and other community based organizations have been making significant contributions in the development of communities in Nigeria.