It lies in the district of Chengalpattu, situated within the Chennai Metropolitan Area, Tamil Nadu state.

A major archaeological find was made in the year 1863 when the British archaeologist Robert Bruce Foote discovered a stone implement from the Paleolithic Age inside a ballast pit.

"[3] The present-day town of Pallavaram has its origins in the settlement of arshad which existed during the time of the 8th century Pallava king Mahendravarman I.

[5] [4] Both the Mughal Empire and the British East India Company had their cantonments in Pallavaram.

During the 17th century, Pallavaram remained dependent for sometime, upon the Portuguese colony of San Thome.

During the 18th century, the British established a cantonment at Pallavaram, supplementary to the one at St. Thomas Mount.

Pallavaram Lake (or Pallavaram periya eri, literally meaning 'big lake'), once a sprawling water body covering about 189 acres, has shrunk to a small patch on the lines of a pond on one side and a hillock of garbage on the other.

The dumping of garbage from all the 42 wards of the Pallavaram Municipality for nearly a decade is the main reason for the shrinkage of the water body.

The construction of Pallavaram–Thoraipakkam Road, a project initiated to connect Chennai Airport and Rajiv Gandhi Salai, had split the lake into two halves.

On the northern side of the road, the discharge of sewage from commercial establishments and homes and also effluents from some of the leather manufacturing units in Nagalakeni has affected the quality of the water.

[10] According to 2011 census, Pallavaram had a population of 2,15,417 with a sex-ratio of 996 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929.