In addition, album tracks such as "Right and a Wrong Way" and "How Deep Is Your Love" received substantial radio airplay and can still be heard on quiet storm format stations.

On April 6, 1994, Make It Last Forever was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of three million copies in the United States.

Riley was the keyboard player in a band called Total Climax, while Sweat was the lead singer of Jamilah.

[1] The two acts were competing against each other in the Big Apple band tournament where Total Climax defeated Jamilah.

[1] According to Riley, the songs "Make It Last Forever" and "How Deep Is Your Love" were recorded with Sweat singing the lyrics off the top of his head.

Musicians such as Fred McFarlane and GQ member Emmanuel Rahiem LeBlanc also contributed in various forms.

Considine of Musician stated in a review upon the album's release, "Though Keith Sweat is B-Boy enough to relish the cheap-drum-machine clatter of the classic hip-hop groove, he's also sufficiently soulful to keep that from crowding his vocal style".

[8] In a retrospective review, Allmusic editor Andrew Hamilton gave it five out of five stars and viewed it as Sweat's best album.

He complimented his "pleading, whining tenor" and wrote that it "adroitly draws you into every song, demanding an emotional commitment".