Salman was born on 31 December 1935, and is reported to be the 25th son of Ibn Saud, the first monarch and founder of Saudi Arabia. Salman and his six full brothers make up the Sudairi Seven. He was raised in the Murabba Palace.

Salman was appointed deputy governor of Riyadh Province on 17 March 1954, aged 19, and held the post until 19 April 1955. He was appointed the provincial governor on 5 February 1963, and remained in that office until 5 November 2011.

King Salman also undertook several foreign tours while he was governor. In 1974, he visited Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s relationship with those nations. During his visit to Montreal, Canada in 1991, he inaugurated a gallery. In 1996, he was received in the Élysée Palace in Paris by the then-French president Jacques Chirac. The same year he toured Bosnia and Herzegovina to give donations to the Muslim citizens of the country. Being a part of an Asian tour in 1998, Salman visited Pakistan, Japan, Brunei and China.

It is speculated that he was placed in the immediate line of succession due to his personal qualities. First, he has a conciliatory and diplomatic nature. He headed the family council, called The Descendants’ Council (Majlis al Uthra in Arabic), that was established by King Fahd in 2000 to solve family matters, reach consensus and try to avoid any publicly embarrassing behaviour by some family members. Second, Salman belongs to the “middle generation” in the royal family; therefore, he could develop close ties with both generations socially and culturally. Last, as a result of his long-term governorship, he had developed a network of relationships within Arab and international circles.

His eldest son, Fahd bin Salman, died of heart failure aged 47 in July 2001. His third son, Ahmad bin Salman, died after a heart attack in July 2002 aged 43. Sultan bin Salman became the first person of royal blood, the first-ever Arab, and the first Muslim to fly in outer space when he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-51-G) in June 1985. Sultan bin Salman is currently the chairman of the Saudi Space Commission. Prince Sultan bin Salman was formerly the chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities (SCTA), which later was changed to be the ministry of Tourism. Abdulaziz bin Salman has been the deputy minister of oil since 1995, then the minister of Energy since 2019 Faisal bin Salman is the governor of Madinah province.

Salman holds traditional views with regards to political reforms and social change. In November 2002, in reference to charitable organizations accused of terrorism (e.g. al-Haramain Foundation, Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina), he stated that he had personally taken part in the activities of such organizations, but added “I know the assistance goes to doing good. But if there are those who change some work of charity into evil activities, then it is not the Kingdom’s responsibility, nor its people, which helps its Arab and Muslim brothers around the world.”

Al Jazeera referred to Salman’s views reported in a 2007 US diplomatic cable. Salman said that “the pace and extent of reforms depend on social and cultural factors, … that for social reasons—not [religious] reasons—reforms cannot be imposed by the [Saudi government] or there will be negative reactions, … [and] that changes have to be introduced in a sensitive and timely manner.” According to the cable, he said that “democracy should not be imposed” in Saudi Arabia, since the country “is composed of tribes and regions and if democracy were imposed, each tribe and region would have its political party.”

In August 2010, Salman underwent spinal surgery in the United States and remained out of the kingdom for recovery. He has had one stroke and despite receiving physiotherapy; his left arm does not work as well as his right. Salman also suffers from mild dementia, specifically Alzheimer’s.

On 5 November 2011, Salman was appointed Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, replacing his full brother, the late Crown Prince Sultan (at Defense). Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz was named governor of Riyadh Province. Prince Salman was also named a member of the National Security Council (NSC) on the same day.

Salman bin Abdulaziz has been married three times. As of 2017, he had thirteen children. His first wife was Sultana bint Turki Al Sudairi, who died aged 71 in late-July 2011. She was a first cousin of Salman, being a daughter of his maternal uncle Turki bin Ahmad Al Sudairi, who was a former governor of the Asir Province. Sultana Al Sudairi supported the Prince Fahd bin Salman Charitable Society for the Care of Kidney Patients and other charitable organizations in the country. His children from this marriage are Prince Fahd (1955-2001), Prince Sultan, Prince Ahmed (1958-2002), Prince Abdulaziz, Prince Faisal and Princess Hassa. Salman was nineteen years old when his first child, Fahd, was born.

Salman continued the policy of military intervention in Bahrain, to try to crush the Bahrain uprising. In April 2012, Salman visited both the United States and the United Kingdom where he met with US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron. 2013 saw Saudi military spending climb to $67bn, overtaking that of the UK, France and Japan to place fourth globally. As defense minister, Salman was head of the military as Saudi Arabia joined the United States and other Arab countries in carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

On 18 June 2012, Salman was appointed as Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia shortly after the death of his brother, Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Prince Salman was also made First Deputy Prime minister. His nomination as crown prince and deputy prime minister was seen by some as a signal that King Abdullah’s cautious reforms were likely to continue. On the other hand, Saudi reformists stated that while Prince Salman, in contrast to other Saudi royals, took a more diplomatic approach towards them, he could not be considered a political reformer. They also argued that, like King Abdullah, Salman focused mainly on economic improvement rather than political change.

On 27 August 2012, the Royal Court announced that Salman was in charge of state affairs whilst King Abdullah was out of the country. Prince Salman launched a Twitter account on 23 February 2013. In September 2012, Salman was named as the deputy chairman of the military service council. He is a strong advocate for philanthropy in poor Muslim nations such as Somalia, Sudan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

In February 2012, Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr was arrested for participating in, and encouraging, pro-democracy protests, when he was 16 or 17 years old. In May 2014, Ali Al-Nimr was sentenced to be executed, despite the minimum age for execution being 18 when a crime is committed. Ali Al-Nimr has reported that he was tortured during his detention. As of 23 September 2015, the sentence awaited ratification by King Salman.

Salman received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Al-Turath Charity Foundation in the field of urban heritage in 2013. In 2017, Salman pledged US$15,000,000 for Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh.

On 23 January 2015, Salman, aged 79, inherited the throne after his half-brother Abdullah died of pneumonia at the age of 90. The new king issued a statement which read “His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and all members of the family and the nation mourn Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away at exactly 1 am this morning.” He appointed his younger half-brother, Prince Muqrin, as the Crown Prince.

After coming to power, Salman reshuffled the cabinet on 30 January 2015. Khalid bin Ali bin Abdullah al-Humaidan was made the intelligence chief. Prince Bandar bin Sultan was removed from his post in the security council and the adviser to the monarch was also removed as were the former monarch’s sons Turki as governor of Riyadh and Mishaal as governor of Mecca. Ali al-Naimi remained the minister of petroleum and mineral resources, as did Saud al-Faisal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ibrahim Al-Assaf as finance minister. Salman also “gave a bonus of two months’ salary to all Saudi state employees and military personnel”, including pensioners and students, while also asking citizens to “not forget me in your prayers”.

In February 2015, he received Prince Charles during his six-day tour in the Middle East. They “exchanged cordial talks and reviewed bilateral relations” between the countries.

In March 2015, the king ordered the bombing of Yemen and military intervention against the Shia Houthis and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was deposed in the 2011 uprising. He first put together a coalition of ten Sunni Muslim countries. Code-named Operation Decisive Storm, this was the first time the Saudi Air Force had launched airstrikes against another country since the 1990–91 Gulf War.

In April 2015, three months after becoming king, Salman appointed a full nephew, Muhammad bin Nayef, as the new Crown Prince to replace his youngest brother Prince Muqrin. Furthermore, he made his son, Mohammad bin Salman, the Deputy Crown Prince. Almost all powers under the king were concentrated in the hands of the crown prince and deputy crown prince, both of whom held the portfolio determining all security and economic development issues in Saudi Arabia.

In May 2015 the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid (KSRelief) was established to deliver aid internationally to victims of civil war and natural disaster, working with the UN and other agencies. As of June 2018, KSRelief has implemented more than 400 individual projects in 40 countries at a cost of $1.8 billion. Moreover, in 2018, KSRelief assisted 180,555 Syrian patients living in Zataari Syrian refugees camp in Jordan. In 2019, KSRelief signed a memorandum of cooperation with UNICEF that aims at enhancing cooperation in the humanitarian field, exchanging knowledge, sharing experiences, promoting voluntary work and boosting capacity building programs. Until 2019, the center provided 1,839 Yemeni civilians wounded during the war with prosthetic limbs for a total amount of $2.3 million.

In February 2015, a man from Hafar Al-Batin was sentenced to death for rejecting Islam. In June 2015, Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upheld the sentence of 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for Raif Badawi, a Saudi Arabian blogger who was imprisoned in 2012 after being charged for ‘insulting Islam’.

Prince Mohammad was his private adviser at the Ministry of Defense and at the Crown Prince Court. Mohammad was appointed as the Minister of Defense and head of the royal court upon his father’s accession to the throne in January 2015. Turki bin Salman became the chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group in February 2013, replacing his elder brother Faisal bin Salman.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter met with the King and his Arabian military counterpart, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, at Jeddah to answer regional security concerns in the Kingdom and the Gulf states over lifting Iranian economic and conventional military sanctions as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action outlines. The King has misgivings over the deal since it would increase the regional power of Iran especially in the proxy conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere. In January 2016, Saudi Arabia executed the prominent Saudi Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr. Iran warned that the House of Saud would pay a high price for the execution of Sheikh Nimr by God’s will.

King Salman then removed Muhammad bin Nayef from the line of succession to the Saudi throne on 21 June 2017 and designated his son Mohammad bin Salman as the new crown prince. At the same time, King Salman removed Muhammad bin Nayef from his other positions in the Saudi government. Mohammad bin Salman has been described as the power behind the throne.

In its ongoing efforts to support people of Yemen, KSRelief organized a vocational training program to train women in Yemen to enable them to earn money for themselves and their families. In a similar context, under the umbrella of the UN, KSRelief has led an international team to implement a rehabilitation project for the children affected by war in Yemen. Moreover, as part of the 40th session of the UN Human Rights’ Council, KSRelief organized an event entitled: Children and the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen where it presented a number of facts and figures related to the amount of assistance provided by the center to the people of Yemen. This includes the implementation of 328 projects for an amount of $2 billion. Furthermore, in 2018 alone KSRelief provided medical services to 2,501,897 Yemenis.

Further government reforms took place in June 2018, when King Salman replaced the labor and Islamic affairs ministers. The appointment as labor minister of Ahmed al-Rajhi, a businessman, signalled a growing role for private sector expertise in the Saudi government. The new minister for Islamic affairs, Abdullatif al-Alsheikh, had previously been credited with reining in the power of the religious police.

In 2019, KSrelief signed a number of agreements with different civil society organizations to implement relief projects for the benefit of Palestinian and Syrian refugees as well as the host Lebanese community. An agreement was concluded with the UNHCR to support the families affected by war for an amount of $5 million. Another one was concluded with IOM to help Syrian refugees under the poverty line for an amount of $3.8 million.

In May 2019, leaders of Gulf and Arab states held two emergency summits in Mecca to present a united front to Iran. Salman accused Iran of threatening global oil supplies and shipping at a meeting of Arab leaders that called on the international community to confront Tehran following attacks on shipping and rising tensions in the oil rich region. Salman said “what the Iranian regime is doing, from intervening in regional countries’ affairs and developing its nuclear program, threatening global maritime traffic and global oil supplies, is a blatant violation of the treaties and principles of the United Nations.” He urged the international community should “use all means to deter this regime.”

In April 2020, the Saudi Supreme Court stated under a royal decree made by King Salman that minors who commit crimes will no longer face execution, but would be sentenced to imprisonment in a juvenile detention facility for a maximum of 10 years.

In July 2020, King Salman underwent successful gallbladder surgery.