In the pre-Roman period the territory around Ceva was inhabited by the branch of the mountain Ligures known as Epanterii.

In the first century AD Columella referred to a particular breed of cattle raised here, and Pliny the Elder praised its sheep's milk cheese in his Natural History.

The town is on the site of the old Roman road from Augusta Taurinorum via Pollentia to the coast[4] and it is probable that there was a market here from which the cheese produced in the region was exported to Rome via the Ligurian ports of Vada Sabatia (the modern Vado Ligure) and/or Albingaunum (Albenga).

In the Middle Ages it was the seat of a small marquisate, which lasted until the late 15th century when it was acquired by Savoy.

Ceva was home to a fortress defending the confines of Piedmont towards Liguria, but the fortifications on the rock above the town were demolished in 1800 by the French, to whom it had been ceded in 1796.