The Credit River flows through Brampton from headwaters above the Niagara Escarpment to empty into Lake Ontario at Port Credit, Mississauga. The total length of the river and its tributary streams is more than 1,500 kilometres.

Despite urbanization and associated problems with water quality on the lower section of this river, it provides spawning areas for chinook salmon and rainbow trout. There is a fish ladder on the river at Streetsville. Much of the river can still be travelled by canoe or kayak. The headwaters of the Credit River is home to a native self-sustaining brook trout population and an introduced brown trout population.

Credit Valley Conservation, the local watershed management conservation authority, operates several Conservation Areas including Belfountain, Island Lake, and Terra Cotta.

Forks of the Credit Provincial Park is located on the upper part of the river between Brampton and Orangeville, and is near the Bruce Trail.

The river was named Rivière au Crédit by French fur traders, because trading goods were supplied to the native Mississaugas in advance (on credit) against furs which would be provided the following spring. A trading post was set up at the mouth of the river, in Port Credit, in the early 18th century.