[1] The district was created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which established a two-tier structure of local government across mainland Scotland comprising upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts.

Renfrew was one of nineteen districts created within the region of Strathclyde.

[4] The district was named after the town of Renfrew, a royal burgh which had given its name to the county of Renfrewshire, but the district's largest town and administrative headquarters was Paisley.

(Scotland) Act 1994 which replaced regions and districts with unitary council areas.

Renfrewshire council area was created covering most of the Renfrew District, but the Barrhead electoral division (roughly corresponding to the pre-1975 burgh of Barrhead and parish of Neilston) went instead to East Renfrewshire.