Legitimacy theory is one of the most discussed theories to explain the phenomenon of voluntary social and environmental disclosures in corporate communication. Consistent with the notion of legitimacy theory, companies seek to gain, maintain or repair their legitimacy by using social and environmental reporting. Legitimacy theory may provide useful insights for corporate social and environmental disclosures. However, there are a number of gaps in the literature dealing with legitimacy theory, which have not been addressed, such as the development of a general framework of legitimacy theory. The paper is mainly concerned with reviewing the literature of legitimacy theory in an attempt to identify the necessary characteristics of this theory. There is a lack of research into framework of legitimacy theory. The paper is mainly concerned with a bringing some coherence to the framework of legitimacy theory and corporate environmental practices. The understanding of the nature of such theory can help in explaining corporate environmental practices.