Educational problems are very complex problems, so it takes a solution to overcome those problems, especially in the 21st century. Educators are expected to disseminate learning by utilizing the development of 21st century technology, educators must also be able to develop technology-based learning media with reference to the school curriculum. The transformation of technology in the digital era provides a wide range of beneficial effects on the science learning process. One important impact of the development in digital era that can be utilized in science education is virtual laboratory. Virtual laboratory is a media that can provide direct experimental visualizations, interactive virtual environment, practical experimentation, to de experiments more efficiently, and be able to save on purchasing experimental tools. Learning by using a virtual laboratory can also be done anywhere and anytime without taking the class lessons. This study is aimed to determine the effect of virtual laboratory based learning model on students’ thinking abilities, skills, and scientific attitudes. This research used qualitative descriptive research method. The data analysis techniques used refers to the data analysis model by Miles & Huberman (1994), including components: reduce data, display data, draw conclusions, and verify. This paper reviews the 23 articles on students' thinking abilities, skills, and scientific attitudes toward virtual laboratory. This paper has been published in Indonesia and several journals have a scopus index reputation from 2010 to 2016. The results showed that the virtual laboratory is able to enhance students’ problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, conceptual understanding, science process skills, lab skills, motivation, interest, perception, and learning outcomes. Therefore, educators need to use virtual laboratories to improve teaching quality and student learning outcomes.