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After World War II most of the communication network in Warsaw was destroyed. The streets were filled with rubble, and the streetcar infrastructure was either transported to Germany by the Wehrmacht or destroyed.

However, the city entered the path of quick reconstruction and was in need of a transport network both cheap and efficient. In 1946 several dozens of trolleybuses were brought in from the Soviet Union and first two lines were soon opened. The trolleybuses were using ex-tramway lines and the lines ran from Union of Lublin square (Plac Unii Lubelskiej) to Warszawa Gdańska train station, and from Łazienkowska depot to the city centre (Piękna street area).

In March 1946 a second line was opened (Plac Saski–Bonifraterska), but was closed and replaced by streetcars in December. However, the reconstruction of the tramway was halted, mostly for political reasons, and until 1955 5 new trolleybus lines were opened, covering most of the city centre.

See: trolleybus network map of this period

1967 started a period of fast decline in both the number of trolleybuses and the trolleybus lines in Warsaw. PZPR policies under Edward Gierek assumed that as much Polish coal as possible be exported while the oil be imported at very low prices from the USSR. It was decided that production of electricity should be lowered in order to spare resources and by 7 July 1973 all trolleybus lines in Warsaw were closed.

The last period of Warsaw trolleybus transportation started in 1977, when it was decided that the existing cars could be used as a means of mass transit between Warsaw and the southern suburb of Piaseczno. An additional line was planned through Wilanów (now part of the city), Powsin and Konstancin-Jeziorna. However, economic crisis made construction of the latter line impossible, and only the Piaseczno line was opened on 1 July 1983.

After the system transformation of 1989 it became apparent that the trolleybuses were in dire need of replacement (those used were built in early 1950s), and that the maintenance costs of running a single line were very high. On 1 September 1995 the Warsaw City Council decided that all services on the 51 and 651 lines be halted. In July 2000 the trolleybus depot in Piaseczno was closed and the remaining cars sold to Minsk, Lublin (where most of them languish in a field behind the main area of a trolleybus depot awaiting refurbishment and return to service; a lack of funds prevents this from going ahead) and to various museums.

See: trolleybus line map of this period