Naftalan city was functioning as a settlement within the Goranboy and Yevlakh districts until 1967. On April 28, 1967, Naftalan was granted the status of the subordinate city. The city of Naftalan consists of a city and two villages.  The word Naftalan, can be traced to the Greek word "naphtha" , meaning pertaining to oil, and the Azerbaijani suffix "-alan", which is of the verb "to take" (and literally meaning "oil buyer"). The base of Naftalan city is Sanatorium - Resort infrastructure. Naftalan Resort has been operating since 1933. However with the aim of expansion of resort zone the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan signed “partially changing in administrative territorial units of Goranboy region and Naphthalene city of the Republic of Azerbaijan” dated May 31, 2010 and according to the command No.958 about the law enforcement dated June 10, 2010 2692,81 hectares plot of lands from administrative territorial unit of Goranboy was included to the administrative territorial unit of Naphthalene city and the city has a total area of 3572,62 hectares. Also, in 1965, Scientific Research Laboratory was established in Naftalan.