Tanglin Secondary School which was located at 369 Commonwealth Avenue in the area called Tanglin Halt was officially opened by Education Minister Ong Pang Boon on 16 October 1964.

[1] It was renamed Tanglin Technical Secondary School in 1969.

It was switched later to the Chinese medium pre-university classes, and renamed Tanglin Secondary School and relocated to the current premises at 301 West Coast Road in 1993.

[2] In 2014, the Ministry of Education announced a merger of Clementi Woods Secondary School with Tanglin Secondary School, taking effect in 2016.

The merged school retains the name and campus of Tanglin Secondary.