The availability of digital technology in the hands of every citizenry worldwide makes an available unprecedented massive amount of data. The capability to process these gigantic amounts of data in real-time with Big Data Analytics (BDA) tools and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms carries many paybacks. However, the high number of free BDA tools, platforms, and data mining tools makes it challenging to select the appropriate one for the right task. This paper presents a comprehensive mini-literature review of ML in BDA, using a keyword search; a total of 1512 published articles was identified. The articles were screened to 140 based on the study proposed novel taxonomy. The study outcome shows that deep neural networks (15%), support vector machines (15%), artificial neural networks (14%), decision trees (12%), and ensemble learning techniques (11%) are widely applied in BDA. The related applications fields, challenges, and most importantly the openings for future research, are detailed.