Mill Creek begins in a valley near Dark Hollow in Pittston Township, Luzerne County.

It receives Collins Creek, its first named tributary, from the right and continues flowing north for more than a mile.

The creek then turns north, passes through Duryea, and exits Luzerne County.

[1] Mill Creek joins the Lackawanna River 3.30 miles (5.31 km) upriver of its mouth.

[1] The floodplain of Mill Creek has extensive deposits of culm and silt left over from former mining operations.

[3] Mill Creek passes through the Llewellyn coal formation at an elevation of approximately 1,200 feet (370 m) above sea level.

However, coal dumps, surface mining land, Wisconsinan Ice-Contact Stratified Drift, and bedrock are also present.

[3] Mill Creek was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979.

[4] This name appears in Patton's Philadelphia and Suburbs Street and Road Map, which was published in 1984.

In 1958, the United States Bureau of Mines channelized 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of the creek in Dupont.

In 2000, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection channelized 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of the creek in Avoca.

[3] In 2001, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan recommended cleaning up coal waste sediments along Mill Creek.