OFDM and NOMA technologies are critical in wireless communication and in 5G networks. They improve connectivity by increasing channel capacity, ensuring high data rates, and supporting multiple users. OFDM and NOMA also address multipath fading, inter-carrier interference, and resource allocation efficiency challenges. This paper reviews NOMA technology as well as multicarrier technologies such as UFMC, GFDM, FBMC. It starts by introducing OFDM, multicarrier techniques, followed by NOMA types along with its downlink and uplink models. A comparison covering the advantages, limitations, and applications of various techniques including Power Domain, Code Domain, IRS assisted, and other types of NOMA schemes is presented. It also covers spectral analysis showing potential of NOMA scheme over OMA by about 10%, especially at higher values of SNR. Hybrid scheme OFDM-NOMA is found to be 15–30% spectrally efficient compared to OMA for worst channel users. Further, it highlights current challenges and future directions for various NOMA techniques including UAV-NOMA.