Water plays a pivotal role in the achievement of all SDGs. In recent decades, the water crisis (SDG 6) has turned into a threatening global challenge, impacting the progress of other sustainability goals, and effective water resource management is vital to maintaining the long-term availability of safe drinking water for both human and ecological requirements. The bibliometric review aims to systematically analyze and summarize the existing literature on progress made in water resource management for the achievement of SDG 6. The paper identifies key thematic areas of ongoing study, challenges and emerging direction for future study by comprehensive analysis of scholarly publications on the Web of Science Database from 2017 to 2023. The literature on water resource management addresses challenges faced in the sphere of water governance, urban water management, water-climate nexus, water-energy-food nexus, transboundary cooperation, integrated water resource management and other water management frameworks, and technological innovations, understanding the complexities in the SDG headway and for framing appropriate policies and strategies. By confronting the challenges and gaps through a broader lens, this review offers insights for further research to policymakers, academicians and administrators, like incorporation of education and training initiatives towards understanding technology to strengthen water governance, reframing policies keeping in view the nexus-thinking, and multidisciplinary approach to study interdependencies of water system and human beings.