It has pinnatifid, serrated or smooth-edges leaves, golden brown and cream-coloured flowers in heads of about fifty-five and glabrous, egg-shaped follicles.

[3][4] This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Dryandra tenuifolia and published the description in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.

As the name Banksia tenuifolia had already been published in reference to the plant now known as Hakea sericea (needlebush), Mast and Thiele had to choose a new specific epithet; their choice, "tenuis", retains the original names' use of the Latin tenuis ("thin"), in reference to the narrow leaves.

[10][11] Banksia tenuis grows in kwongan and is widespread between Darkan, Williams and the Cape Arid National Park.

[12] Banksia tenuis and both varieties of the species are classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.