With a length of about 500 m (1,600 ft), it runs between two important squares, Wittenbergplatz in the east and Breitscheidplatz in the west, where it is continued by the Kurfürstendamm boulevard.

It was then part of a larger road link from Charlottenburg through Schöneberg to the Berlin district of Kreuzberg named after victorious Prussian generals (therefore colloquially called Generalszug in German).

The projected section was named after Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien (1760–1824) by order of King William I of Prussia in 1864, celebrating the 50th anniversary storming of French-occupied Wittenberg by the Prussian Army in the aftermath of the German Campaign of 1813.

The street became a popular neighbourhood for middle-class families: notable residents included the author Hermann Sudermann, the later Nobel laureate Gustav Stresemann, the painter Emil Nolde, and young Marlene Dietrich.

Today, Tauentzienstraße is one of the busiest shopping streets in Berlin with top rents for prime retail business locations, strongly dominated by flagship stores of international fashion brands.