Delft University of Technology was founded on 8 January 1842 by William II of the Netherlands as Royal Academy for the education of civilian engineers, for serving both nation and industry, and of apprentices for trade. One of the purposes of the academy was to educate civil servants for the colonies of the Dutch East India Company. The first director of the academy was Antoine Lipkens, constructor of the first Dutch optical telegraph, called simply as Lipkens. Royal Academy had its first building located at Oude Delft 95 in Delft. On 23 May 1863 an Act was passed imposing regulations on technical education in the Netherlands, bringing it under the rules of secondary education.

Polytechnic School (1864–1905)
On 20 June 1864, Royal Academy in Delft was disbanded by a Royal Decree, giving a way to a Polytechnic School of Delft (Politechnische School van Delft). The newly formed school educated engineers of various fields and architects, so much needed during the rapid industrialization period in the 19th century.

Institute of Technology (1905–1986)
Yet another Act, passed on 22 May 1905, changed the name of the school to Technical College (Institute) of Delft (Technische Hoogeschool Delft, from 1934 Technische Hogeschool Delft), emphasizing the academic quality of the education. Polytechnic was granted university rights and was allowed to award academic degrees. The number of students reached 450 around that time. The official opening of the new school was attended by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands on 10 July 1905. First dean of the newly established College was ir. J. Kraus, hydraulic engineer. In 1905, the first doctoral degree was awarded. From 1924 until the construction of the new campus in 1966 the ceremonies were held in the Saint Hippolytus Chapel.
 

Corporate rights were granted to the College on 7 June 1956. Most of the university buildings during that time were located within Delft city centre, with some of the buildings set on the side of the river Schie, in the Wippolder district.
 

Student organizations grew together with the university. The first to be established on 22 March 1848 is the Delftsch Studenten Corps housed in the distinctive Sociëteit Phoenix on the Phoenixstraat. This was followed by the Delftsche Studenten Bond|de Delftsche Studenten Bond (est. 30 October 1897) and the KSV Sanctus Virgilius (est. 2 March 1898). In 1917 Proof Garden for Technical Plantation (Dutch: Cultuurtuin voor Technische Gewassen) was established by Gerrit van Iterson, which today is known as Botanical Garden of TU Delft. In that period a first female professor, Toos Korvezee, was appointed.
 

Delft University of Technology (1986–present)

After the end of World War II, TU Delft increased its rapid academic expansion. Studium Generale was established at all universities in the Netherlands, including TU Delft, to promote a free and accessible knowledge related to culture, technology, society and science. Because of the increasing number of students, in 1974 the first Reception Week for First Year Students (Ontvangst Week voor Eerstejaar Studenten, OWEE) was established, which became a TU Delft tradition since then.
 

On 1 September 1986, the Delft Institute of Technology officially changed its name to Delft University of Technology, underlining the quality of the education and research provided by the institution. In the course of further expansion, in 1987 Delft Top Tech institute was established, which provided a professional master education in management for people working in the technology-related companies. On 1 September 1997, the 13 faculties of the TU Delft were merged into 9, to improve the management efficiency of the growing university. In the early 1990s, because the vast majority of the students of the university were male, an initiative to increase the number female students resulted in founding a separate emancipation commission. As a result, Girls Study Technology (Meiden studeren techniek) days were established. In later years the responsibilities of the commission were distributed over multiple institutes.
 

Since 2006 all buildings of the university are located outside of the historical city center of Delft. The relatively new building of Material Sciences department was sold, later demolished in 2007 to give place for a newly built building of the Haagse Hogeschool. Closer cooperation between TU Delft and Dutch universities of applied sciences resulted in physical transition of some of the institutes from outside to Delft. In September 2009 many institutes of applied sciences from the Hague region as well as Institute of Applied Sciences in Rijswijk, transferred to Delft, close to the location of the university, at the square between Rotterdamseweg and Leeghwaterstraat.

In 2007 the four Dutch technical universities, TU Delft, TU Eindhoven, Wageningen University and University of Twente, established a federation, called 4TU federation.