Datu Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah College was officially opened on 29 September 1978.

The college was named after Datu Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah, a local politician who served under Charles Vyner Brooke.

Adzuddin bin Haji Mantrang was appointed as the 13th Principal of Datu Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah College in October 2022, succeeding Abang Othman who has served the post since October 2019.

The college's motto is Arif dan Maju (Wisdom and Progress), which is also the title of one of its two anthems.

The second anthem, Arif dan Maju (written by Wan Danial Samiun Bin Wan Mohamad), was introduced during Putit bin Haji Ped's tenure as the Principal when the college was declared a Smart School.

Ibrahim bin Haji Jamain added a popular phrase to the college slogan: "We Must, We Can, We Will Excel, Eureka Yes!"

Since 2017, after the implementation of both KSSM and KSSR programmes under the Ministry of Education, there are no specific minimum requirements to enter the school, instead a student (Form 1) whom applied the admission to this school, with good results in UPSR will be called for an interview.

Abdillah College produced great orators in 1980, winning the Chief Minister's Cup Malay Debate Championship.

The person in-charge of the Malay language debate team, (Cikgu Bhaludin Salleh) has resigned and opened a well known tuition centre named Pusat Bimbingan Karya.

It was the year 2006 when Abdillah College won the Sarawak Bahasa Melayu Parliamentary Style Debate.

Two years prior, Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Eddry Haqimy, along with Dayang Azizah as the third speaker paved the way for collegian debate teams by becoming the forerunner among collegian debaters to break further than quarter-finals as juniors.

Currently, this is the most notable and accomplished achievements a debate team from the school has ever held, due to the sheer size and competition of SSIDC.

The Young Entrepreneurs Programme (YEP) of Abdillah College is probably the most acclaimed club in the school.

In 2015, SPEKTRA publication was taken over by Abdillah College Multimedia Club after responsible publisher, which was Mr. Mohd Noor bin Lamat moved out to his new school.

G News reports on current issues surrounding the school and the achievements of students in extracurricular or curricular activities.

Chong Zhia Howe has been representing Malaysia in international taekwondo tournaments ever since he was a student at the school.

After the sole victory, it was rumoured that the players began spending more time in their studies, which resulted in the club's demise in 1999.

The College Titans became stronger each year and this in return sparked the other students' interest in the sport.

The group was officially started in 1997 and it took part in the dance competition organised by the Sarawak Cultural Village in the same year.

However, due to problems such as instructor replacements and irregular schedule changes, the group was not able to perform at their best and failed to bag any prizes in any competitions.

Abdillah College's extra-large Jalur Gemilang was featured in Malaysia's media in year 2002 and 2003.