Founded in 1935 in Warsaw, the orchestra was created and led by Grzegorz Fitelberg until the outbreak of World War II. In March 1945 Witold Rowicki revived the orchestra in Katowice. In 1947, Grzegorz Fitelberg, upon his return from abroad, took over the post of the artistic director. After his death in 1953, the orchestra was headed in succession by Jan Krenz, Bohdan Wodiczko, Kazimierz Kord, Tadeusz Strugała, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Stanisław Wisłocki, Jacek Kaspszyk, Antoni Wit, Gabriel Chmura and, once again, Jacek Kaspszyk. In September 2000, Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa was appointed the general and programme director. In January 2009 Michał Klauza became the associate conductor. Stanisław Skrowaczewski holds the title of the first guest conductor of the PNRSO, Jan Krenz is a honorary director and the function of artistic advisor is fulfilled by Jerzy Semkow.

The orchestra has recorded more than 198 compact discs for many Polish and foreign labels (Decca, EMI, Phillips, Naxos, etc.) and made numerous archival recordings for the needs of Polish Radio. Many renowned conductors and soloists have performed with the PNRSO in Poland and abroad. Among them were: Martha Argerich, Leonard Bernstein, Placido Domingo, Pierre Fournier, Nicolai Gedda, Julius Katchen, Wilhelm Kempff, Kiryłł Kondraszyn, Marguerite Long, Witold Lutosławski, Kurt Masur, Krzysztof Penderecki, Maurizio Pollini, Ruggiero Ricci, Mścisław Rostropowicz, Artur Rubinstein, Isaac Stern, Henryk Szeryng, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Krystian Zimerman. Idil Biret has recorded with PNRSO all the piano concertos of Brahms and Rachmaninov as well as two works for piano and orchestra of Schumann (Op. 92 and Op. 134).