Turbo C++ was marketed toward the hobbyist and entry-level compiler market, while Borland C++ targeted the professional application development market. Starting with version 3.0, Borland segmented their C++ compiler into two distinct product-lines: 'Turbo C++' and ' Borland C++'. It's possible that the jump from version 1.x to version 3.x was in part an attempt to link Turbo C++ release numbers with Microsoft Windows versions however, it seems more likely that this jump was simply to synchronize Turbo C and Turbo C++, since Turbo C 2.0 (1989) and Turbo C++ 1.0 (1990) had come out roughly at the same time, and the next generation 3.0 was a merger of both the C and C++ compiler. The Turbo C++ 3.0 for Windows product was quickly followed by Turbo C++ 3.1. Soon after the release of Windows 3.0, Borland updated Turbo C++ to support Windows application development. The separate Turbo Assembler product was no longer included, but the inline-assembler could stand in as a reduced functionality version.

3.0 implemented AT&T C++ 2.1, the most recent at the time. Initially released as an MS-DOS compiler, 3.0 supported C++ templates, Borland's inline assembler, and generation of MS-DOS mode executables for both 8086 real mode and 286 protected mode (as well as 80186). Turbo C++ 3.0 was released on November 20, 1991, amidst expectations of the coming release of Turbo C++ for Microsoft Windows.

This compiler supported the AT&T 2.0 release of C++.

The initial version of the Turbo C++ compiler was based on a front end developed by TauMetric (later acquired by Sun Microsystems and their front end was incorporated in Sun C++ 4.0, which shipped in 1994). The latter was able to generate both COM and EXE programs and was shipped with Borland's Turbo Assembler for Intel x86 processors. Version 1.01 was released on February 28, 1991, running on MS-DOS. Turbo C++ 1.0, running on MS-DOS, was released in May 1990.

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