Three hypotheses exist about the origin of its name: The Lim rises below Maglić peak in the Kuči area of eastern Montenegro, very close to the Albanian border, under the name of Vermosh.

Receiving the Vruje stream from Ali Pasha's Wellsprings from the right at Gusinje, it continues as Ljuča for a few more kilometers where it empties into the Lake Plav, creating small delta.

In the border area, the Lim carved a long gorge Kumanička klisura, between the mountains of Lisa (in Montenegro) and Ozren (in Serbia).

Lim continues between the mountains of Jadovnik, Pobijenik and Zlatar, and runs through the northern part of the Sandžak area (or Raška oblast).

It receives many smaller streams in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, the two most important are its major right tributaries in Serbia, the Uvac and the Mileševa river.

On 4 April 2004, around 10 PM, a bus carrying Bulgarian tourists (34 students and 16 adults) back to their native Svishtov from a trip to Dubrovnik in Croatia fell and sank in the river near the Serbian village of Gostun close to the border with Montenegro as the driver lost control over it during a turn on a mountain road.