Durum wheat is one of the most important food crops in the Mediterranean region because of its adaptation to semiarid environments and its suitability for making end-products like pasta, couscous and artisanal bread. In Tunisia, durum wheat breeding effort initiated in the beginning of the twentieth century resulted in several interesting and novel achievements. The purpose of this study is to document the genetic gains realized in terms of productivity and grain quality traits using a historical series of Tunisian durum wheat genotypes grouped according to the their registration period into “Old varieties”, “Intermediate genotypes” and “Modern varieties”. Grain yield exhibited a significant increasing trend throughout recent history. The introduction of Mexican germplasm, characterized by earliness and semi-dwarf stature, was key to increasing productivity. Grain yield increased from 1.49 t/ha for old cultivars to 5.8 t/h for modern varieties. This superiority is mainly due to their genetic potential, their wider adaptation and their improved level of resistance to the main crop diseases. The genetic gain in grain yield was clearly associated with an increase in kernel weight (+18.4 g/1000 kernels) and semolina yield (+9%). However, test weight and SDS volume did not show any particular trend as a result of breeding. For protein content, substantial differences were found with clear differences between the historical groups of genotypes. The highest value of protein content was recorded in old cultivars (16.35%), decreasing to 12.95% as modern varieties were introduced. In the same way, the highest gluten content was observed in old varieties (42.25%). There was a significant reduction of yellow berry percentage going from old varieties (15.56%) and modern ones (1.34%) due, to a great extent, to the many changes in crop management practices, such as regular nitrogen fertilization. Furthermore, yellowness of semi dwarf varieties was greater than old cultivars. The yellow pigments content varied from 18.71 for the improved variety Karim to 23.57 for the recently registered INRAT100. However, gluten strength did not show an increase during the breeding history. The results of this study showed that a significant improvement was achieved in durum wheat productivity and some quality traits. Since the last decade, grain quality has become among apriority in the Tunisian durum wheat breeding program