The first official mention of the settlement is from 1415,as it was written in the charter issued by Dubrovnik to Hungarian Emperor Sigismund, although there are numerous artefacts and objects that have been found (The National Museum of Bosnia/Herzegovina in Sarajevo & The Regional Museum in Doboj) and which confirm the fact that the area had been inhabited ever since the early stone age, and that the Roman Empire had an army camp (Castrum) and a settlement (Canabea) in the vicinity of the town dating from the 1st century AD. Following the arrival of the Slavs in the 6th century A.D. it became a part of the region/bannate Usora (in the medieval documents sometimes put together with the nearby province Soli, hence, Usora and Soli).

Doboj at the beginning of the 20th Century

The Doboj fortress, first built in the early 13th century and expanded in the early 15th century (1415), fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1476, only to be expanded yet again in 1490. It was a very important obstacle for the invaders coming from North, Hungarians, and later on, Austrians and Germans. It was built in the Gotho-Roman style with the gothic towers and romanic windows. Doboj was the site of a major battle between Hungarians and Bosnian/Turkish coalition in early August of 1415 in which Hungarians were heavily defeated. As an important border fortress (between Bosnian Kingdom and Hungary), it was also frequently attacked (officially recorded some 18 times)in the Austrian-Ottoman wars, and finally fell to the Habsburgs in 1878.

During World War I, Doboj was the site of the largest Austro-Hungarian concentration camp for Serbs. According to its official figures, it held, between December 27, 1915 and July 5, 1917:

In total, 45,791 persons.

By February 1916, the authorities began redirecting the prisoners to other camps. The Serbs from Bosnia were mostly sent to Győr (Sopronyek, Šopronjek/Шопроњек).

Most of the interned from Bosnia were whole families from the border regions of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is said that 5,000 families alone were uprooted from the Sarajevo district in eastern Bosnia along the border with the Kingdoms of Serbia & Montenegro.

The Nobel Prize-laureate Ivo Andrić was also an inmate of the camp.

During World War II, Doboj was an important site for the partisan resistance movement. From their initial uprising in August 1941 up until the end of the war, the Ozren partisan squad carried out numerous diversions against the occupation forces, among the first successful operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The town was liberated on April 17, 1945.