In his childhood, Toby grew up in Annandale, Virginia. He attended Pine Ridge Elementary, a school with fewer than 300 students during the years that Toby attended (1970-1977). He later attended Luther Jackson Intermediate during the first few months of his 7th grade school year. Both schools were mentioned in his song "Extreme Days". He then attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia where he met Kevin Max and Michael Tait.

The trio formed the band dc Talk in 1987. dc Talk's original sound was hip-hop, but in 1995 they reinvented themselves with the release of the guitar-heavy Jesus Freak. Although they had already won a Grammy for their earlier work, this album was a significant milestone, selling over two million copies, making it a double platinum record. dc Talk's latest album was released in 2001. The album Intermission: the Greatest Hits was a dc Talk compilation put together when the group members started their "intermission." The members were pursuing individual careers then. dc Talk reunited to perform a song on the album Let's Roll about the events on September 11, 2001, on Toby's second album Welcome to Diverse City (They appeared on the song "Atmosphere (Remix)"), and also on Kevin Max's album The Blood in the song "The Cross".

Toby Mac's solo music differs from dc Talk's rock-based musical style, leaning toward a more urban, hip hop sound. His sound is much more reminiscent of what was heard when dc Talk originally started out, on the albums dc Talk, Nu Thang, and Free At Last.

Toby composed and recorded the song "Extreme Days" for the 2001 Truth Builder Productions film Extreme Days. The song was subsequently featured on the 2001 debut Toby Mac album Momentum and was used in the movie, Hangman's Curse, based on the popular book by Frank Peretti. Toby also composed and performed the song "New World" for the album Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His song "The Slam" was featured in the film Never Back Down, advertisements for the films Transporter 2 and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, as well as advertisements for the television show Prison Break. The song was also featured in car commercials, men's NCAA clips, NBA Finals (Miami Heat, 2006), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programming, NFL Football commercials, and "The Ultimate Highlight" on Sportscenter. The song "Burn for You" was used on a Dr. Phil advertisement. "Diverse City" was featured in the Veronica Mars episode, The Wrath of Con. Ohio Valley Wrestling performer Matt Cappotelli uses "The Slam" as his entrance theme. Many more of Toby's songs have also been used in commercials. "Atmosphere" was used in a Volvo car commercial, "Burn For You" was used for cinnamon gum commercials, "Ignition" is being used by ABC/ESPN to promote its coverage of NASCAR, and "Boomin'" has also been used to promote a new crime-drama, The Women's Murder Club, on ABC, as well as others. His song "Get This Party Started" was featured on an episode of the TV show Roswell. His songs "Yours", "Extreme Days", "Get This Party Started", and "Momentum" were all recently featured in the Xbox 360 video game Crackdown. In September 2007, his song "Feelin' So Fly" appeared in the film The Game Plan starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Portable Sounds sold 50,645 copies in its first week, debuting at #10 on the Billboard 200, and at #1 on the SoundScan Contemporary Christian Overall chart. The album also received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. The songs "Made to Love" and "I'm For You" both hit #1 and were the second and third most played songs on Christian Hit Radio stations in 2007.