He displayed an aptitude for music from an early age, & his school education ended after the fourth standard.
Venkatraman composed music for many films, including Nanda Kumar, Tahsildar, Valmiki, Manonmani, Kannagi, Nandanar, Meera (Tamil and Hindi), Naga Panchami, Sri Murugan, Manohara (Tamil, Telugu and Hindi), and Irumbu Thirai.
All leading playback singers of the time from P. U. Chinnappa Bhagavathar and G. N. Balasubramaniam to M. M. Dandapani Desikar and T. M. Soundararajan lent their voices to Venkatraman's tunes.
He set to tune the Narayaneeyam and the Guruvayur Suprabhatam, rendered by Trichur Ramachandran and Papanasam Sivan's Sree Rama Charitha Geetham and sung by Sirkazhi Govindarajan.
Venkatraman worked with singers like T. M. Soundararajan, A. M. Rajah, Sirkazhi Govindarajan, Thiruchi Loganathan, V. N. Sundaram, T. A. Mothi, M. L. Vasanthakumari, P. Leela, Jikki, T. V. Rathnam, A. P. Komala, Radha Jayalakshmi, K. Jamuna Rani, P. Susheela, K. Rani, S. Janaki, and L. R. Eswari.
The singing actors M. M. Dandapani Desikar, G. N. Balasubramaniam, M. S. Subbulakshmi, D. K. Pattammal, P. U. Chinnappa, C. Honnappa Bhagavathar, U. R. Jeevarathinam, N. C. Vasanthakokilam, T. R. Mahalingam, T. R. Rajakumari, V. Nagayya, N. S. Krishnan, T. A. Madhuram, T. S. Durairaj, and J. P. Chandrababu all sang songs under his compositions.