The Caney Fork River is one of the major streams draining the Cumberland Plateau region of Tennessee and a major tributary of the Cumberland River system.

The Caney Fork rises in Cumberland County about six miles (ten km) west north-west of Crossville. It is crossed by U.S. Highway 70 near the tiny community of Clayville, and, flowing southwest, then crosses into White County. In southeastern White County it descends off of the Cumberland Plateau through a deep, steep gorge in a remote area west of Scott Pinnacle, a locally-known mountain. Farther downstream, near the Dodson community, the stream becomes the line between White County and Van Buren County. It receives the flow of the Calfkiller River and several minor tributaries.

At the confluence of the Caney Fork, the Collins River and the Rocky River is Great Falls Lake. This reservoir is impounded by Great Falls Dam , a project of the former Tennessee Electric Power Company now owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the only dam outside of the Tennessee River drainage system directly operated by it. This dam impounds a very small but very deep lake due to the depth of the gorges carved by the rivers it impounds. This area was something of a resort area in the early 20th century when such projects were uncommon, especially in the southeastern United States, but other than a few cabins, there is little evidence of this today, as the area has been largely supplanted by larger, more modern developments. The dam is named for the Great Falls of the Caney Fork, caused by the descent of the stream off of the Highland Rim to the level of the Nashville Basin. Here is Rock Island State Park, developed on the site of former woolen mills in the 19th century well predating the electrical development. (This area was used for a considerable number of exterior shots and stunts in the Sylvester Stallone film, The Specialist .)

At the foot of Great Falls Dam the water is usually slack except during periods of high discharge due to the influence of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Center Hill Dam project, developed in the late 1950s. Unlike Great Falls Dam, this project floded thousands of acres of land previously devoted to agriculture and several small communities. It is crossed by a particularly scenic bridge on Tennessee Highway 56. Along its shores is Edgar Evins State Park, named for the brother of the area's former Congressman, Joe L. Evins, former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. This area is in DeKalb County.

Below Center Hill Dam, the stream crosses into Smith County and is bridged by Interstate 40 no less than five times. This downstream section is sometimes stocked with trout by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. A final bridge is on U.S. Highway 70N near the Elmwood community; the river's mouth into the Cumberland is almost directly opposite the Smith County seat of Carthage.