Surat finds mention in the Mahabharata, with Lord Krishna enjoying a brief sojourn there, en route from Mathura to Dwarka. The city was ruled by Hindu kings until Qutbuddin Aibak's forces overran it.

By the end of the 15^th century, Surat had eclipsed Khambat as the major port of western India. During the reign of the Mughal emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, Surat's port was used as the gateway to Makkah for pilgrims of the Haj. It rose to prominence as the chief commercial city and an imperial mint was established there.

The Portuguese pillaged and burned the city twice in the 16^th century. A Portuguese traveller, in his accounts, described it as a thriving and important seaport.

After supplanting the Portuguese as the major naval power in the region, the British established a factory in Surat. The city was also the seat of a presidency under the British East India Company. Surat's relative decline was concurrent with the rise in fortunes of Bombay (Mumbai) and the British interests therein. A fire and a flood in 1837 destroyed many buildings of Surat, leaving behind interesting monuments such as the tombs of European merchants.

By the early twentieth century Surat was a centre of trade and manufacturing, with cotton mills, rice-cleaning mills and paper mills. Cotton goods woven on hand-looms, silk brocade and gold embroidery rounded off the rest of the trade and manufacturing in the city. This led to the infusion of an eclectic mix of ethnicity into the city, thus contributing to its unique culture.