Dombeya tiliacea is a lovely shrub, sometimes scrambling, or a small deciduous tree, 3–4 m, up to 10 m tall, usually multi-stemmed. Bark is rough, dark grey. Branchlets slender, with pale lenticels and leaf scars. New growth is hairy.

Leaves are simple, ovate, heart-shaped at the base, often elongating towards the tip, sometimes shallowly 3-lobed at the apex, 30–100 × 20–80 mm, thin textured, dark green and slightly hairy, becoming smooth with age. Margin is scalloped or toothed. Usually 5-veined from the base, but may be 3- or 7-veined, and veins are raised on the underside of the leaves. Stalks 20–65 mm long, hairy.

Loose clusters of fairly large white flowers, occasionally with a pink throat, are produced in the axils of the upper leaves, in late summer and autumn (March to July). Each flower is 25–30 mm in diameter, sweet-scented and the clusters contain 2–9 flowers. Fruit is a small, rounded, hairy capsule inside the rusty brown remains of the flowers, splitting to release several small, 5 × 7 mm, rough, 3-sided seeds, in winter to early summer (June to December).