Archaeological evidence suggests that Tuzla was a rich Neolithic settlement. Being inhabited continuously for more than 6,000 years, Tuzla is one of the oldest European sustained settlements. During the period of the Roman Republic (before the area was conquered by Rome), Tuzla (or Salines as it was called at the time) was ruled by the Illyrian tribe Breuci.

The city was first mentioned in 950 by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his De Administrando Imperio as a fort named Salines. The name Soli was used in the Middle Ages. It means "salts" in Bosnian and the city's present name means "place of salt" in Ottoman Turkish. During the Middle Ages it belonged mostly to the medieval Kingdom of Bosnia.

After the fall of the kingdom to the Ottoman Empire in 1463, the region was controlled by the House of Berislavić before the Ottomans occupied the villages of "Gornje Soli" and "Donje Soli" around 1512, and took control of the entire Usora in the 1530s.

It remained under Ottoman rule for nearly 400 years, where it was administered as part of the Sanjak of Zvornik. In 1878 it was annexed by Austria-Hungary. After the dissolution of Monarchy it became the part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Husino uprising took place in 1920.

In December 1944, the city was unsuccessfully attacked by Chetnik forces of Draža Mihailović along with the Serbian Assault Corps. After the war it developed into a major industrial and cultural centre during the Communist period in the former Yugoslavia.
In the 1990 elections the Reformists won control of the municipality being the only municipality in Bosnia where non-nationalists won. During the Bosnian war for independence between 1992–95 the town was the only municipality not governed by nationalist authorities. After Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence and was recognized by the United Nations the city was besieged by nationalist Serbian forces. A few days later Serbian forces attacked Tuzla. The town was not spared the atrocities of the Bosnian war.

1992 Yugoslav People's Army column incident in Tuzla was an attack on the 92nd Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) Motorized Brigade in the city of Tuzla that took place on 15 May 1992. The incident occurred at the road junction of Brčanska Malta as the JNA was undergoing an agreed-upon withdrawal from the city. At least 50 members of the JNA were killed and 44 wounded during the attacks.

On 25 May 1995, an attack on Tuzla killed 71 people and injured 200 persons in what is referred to as the Tuzla massacre, when a shell hit the central street and its promenade. The youngest civilian who died in that massacre was only two years old.

Following the Dayton Peace Accords, Tuzla was the headquarters of the U.S. forces for the Multinational Division (MND) during Operation Joint Endeavour IFOR and subsequent SFOR.

Several sports teams from Tuzla have participated in international competitions. Almost all of Tuzla's sports teams are named Sloboda, meaning freedom. The most popular sports in Tuzla include football (FK Sloboda); basketball (OKK Sloboda), karate (KBS Tuzla-Sinbra) and many others. The women's basketball team Jedinstvo Aida were European club champions in the late 1980s, with the most famous sportswoman from Tuzla in their midst – Razija Mujanović.