The College of Engineering was established as a joint project between the Ministry of Education of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UNESCO in November 1962. This project lasted until 1969 when the College of Engineering became an official part of King Saud University.

The college started with three departments: the department of civil engineering (CE), the department of electrical engineering (EE), and the department of mechanical engineering (ME). In 1968, the department of architecture was established and it became a college in 1984 (1404 A.H.) under the name the College of Architecture and Planning.

In 1974 two departments were established: the department of chemical engineering (CHE) and the department of petroleum engineering (PE). In 1988 (1408 A.H.) surveying engineering (SE) was also established as a program in the department of civil engineering. In 1982 (1402A.H.), the program of industrial engineering was established in the department of mechanical engineering. Later on the program became the department of industrial engineering (IE) in 2002 (1423 A.H.). In sum, there are now six departments offering the Bachelor of Science Degree in the following fields:

   1. Civil Engineering

   2. Electrical Engineering

   3. Chemical Engineering

   4. Mechanical Engineering

   5. Industrial Engineering

   6. Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

   7. Surveying Engineering

The number of students of the college has risen from 17 in 1962 to more than 4000 students in 2005. The Faculty members have similarly grown in number from 4 to 210 (including lecturers and teaching assistants) within the same time span.