The loch was created by glacial processes and is in total around 15 miles (25 km) long.

[2] The islets in the loch include: Shieldaig Island has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1970.

Loch Torridon is an important prawn and shellfish fishery and is home to several salmon farms and industrial mussel production.

[4] The sustainable seafood certificate for Loch Torridon langoustines was suspended by the Marine Stewardship Council on 11 January 2011, due to increased fishing pressure in the area caused by creel-fishing boats that had not signed-up to the fishery's voluntary code of conduct.

The number of sites led the archaeologists to believe that Loch Torridon was quite intensively occupied in prehistory.