As per MongoDB documentation here For commonly issued queries, create indexes. If a query searches multiple fields, create a compound index. Scanning an index is much faster than scanning a collection. The indexes structures are smaller than the documents reference, and store references in order.

For Example :

If you have a posts collection containing blog posts, and if you regularly issue a query that sorts on the author_name field, then you can optimize the query by creating an index on the author_name field:

db.posts.createIndex( { author_name : 1 } )

Indexes also improve efficiency on queries that routinely sort on a given field.

If you regularly issue a query that sorts on the timestamp field, then you can optimize the query by creating an index on the timestamp field:

Creating this index:

db.posts.createIndex( { timestamp : 1 } )

Optimizes this query:

db.posts.find().sort( { timestamp : -1 } )

Because MongoDB can read indexes in both ascending and descending order, the direction of a single-key index does not matter.

Where Indexes support queries, update operations, and some phases of the aggregation pipeline.

Use Projections to Return Only Necessary Data

When you need only a subset of fields from documents, you can achieve better performance by returning only the fields you need:

For example, if in your query to the posts collection, you need only the timestamp, title, author, and abstract fields, you would issue the following command:

db.posts.find( {}, { timestamp : 1 , title : 1 , author : 1 , abstract : 1} ).sort( { timestamp : -1 } )

For more information on using projections, see Project Fields to Return from Query.

As per MongoDB documentation here For commonly issued queries, create indexes. If a query searches multiple fields, create a compound index. Scanning an index is much faster than scanning a collection. The indexes structures are smaller than the documents reference, and store references in order.

For Example :

If you have a posts collection containing blog posts, and if you regularly issue a query that sorts on the author_name field, then you can optimize the query by creating an index on the author_name field:

db.posts.createIndex( { author_name : 1 } )

Indexes also improve efficiency on queries that routinely sort on a given field.

If you regularly issue a query that sorts on the timestamp field, then you can optimize the query by creating an index on the timestamp field:

Creating this index:

db.posts.createIndex( { timestamp : 1 } )

Optimizes this query:

db.posts.find().sort( { timestamp : -1 } )

Because MongoDB can read indexes in both ascending and descending order, the direction of a single-key index does not matter.

Where Indexes support queries, update operations, and some phases of the aggregation pipeline.

Use Projections to Return Only Necessary Data

When you need only a subset of fields from documents, you can achieve better performance by returning only the fields you need:

For example, if in your query to the posts collection, you need only the timestamp, title, author, and abstract fields, you would issue the following command:

db.posts.find( {}, { timestamp : 1 , title : 1 , author : 1 , abstract : 1} ).sort( { timestamp : -1 } )

If you want to Limit the Number of Documents to Return or to Set the Starting Point of the Result Set then use limit or skip method.

Limit the Number of Documents to Return

The limit() method limits the number of documents in the result set. The following operation returns at most 5 documents in the bios collection:

db.bios.find().limit( 5 )

Set the Starting Point of the Result Set

The skip() method controls the starting point of the results set. The following operation skips the first 5 documents in the bios collection and returns all remaining documents:

db.bios.find().skip( 5 )

For more information on using projections, see Project Fields to Return from Query.