It has smooth whitish and grey bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, glaucous flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped to barrel-shaped or conical fruit.

Eucalyptus cretata is a mallee, sometimes a straggly tree, that typically grows to a height of about 4 m (13 ft) and forms a lignotuber.

The bark is smooth, grey over coppery underbark, shedding in ribbons, and the branchlets are shiny red or brownish green and glaucous.

The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven in leaf axils on a peduncle 5–15 mm (0.20–0.59 in) long, the individual buds on a pedicel up to 4 mm (0.16 in) long.

[8] The specific epithet (cretata) is a Latin word meaning "marked with chalk",[9] referring to the chalky bloom on the branchlets and flower buds.