A large number of 24 teams participated in the Ranji Trophy, 1978-79 and the teams were coming from all the parts of India. The organisers of the tournament, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) divided the teams into five different zones like Central, East, North, South and West. The teams that played in the tournament included the likes of Andhra, Assam, Baroda, Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Hyderabad, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Railways, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Services, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and the Vidarbha. The teams first played against each other in their respective zones and then ten of the teams got promoted to the knock out level for deciding the ultimate champion of the tournament.

Ranji Trophy 1978 -79, Central Zone League Matches: The teams like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Railways and Vidarbha took part in the tournament under the Central Zone in the Ranji Trophy, 1978-79. The teams were representing different states from the Central India and they played against each other in the zonal level for becoming one of the top two teams in the zone. They also tried hard to secure a birth in the knock out level of the tournament, however, only the teams like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan became successful to do so from the Central Zone.

Ranji Trophy 1978 -79, East Zone League Matches: The East Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 1978-79 was comprised of a number of 4 teams, all the regular participants in the tournament. The teams included the likes of Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Bengal and they were representing different states from the Eastern India. The teams fought hard with each other in the zonal level with an aim of becoming the topper in the zone and also to get a chance for competing with the top teams of the other zones in the knock out level of the tournament. The teams like Bengal and Bihar once again became the toppers in the East Zone and they also got promoted to the knock out level of the tournament.

Ranji Trophy 1978 -79, North Zone League Matches: The North Zone in the Ranji Trophy, 1978-79 was comprised of a number of 5 teams, all the regular participants of the tournament. The teams were coming from the Northern region of India and they included the likes of Delhi, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana and Services. The teams played against each other in the zonal level first and tried their best to become one of the top two teams in the zone and also to secure a birth in the knock out level of the tournament. However, the teams like Delhi and Punjab eventually become successful to do so from the zone and they competed with the top teams of the other zones in the knock out level for the championship trophy.

Ranji Trophy 1978 -79, South Zone League Matches: There were a number of 5 teams participated under the South Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 1978-79 and the teams were representing the Southern region of India, in the tournament. The teams were the regular participants in the tournament and they included the likes of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra, Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu. All the teams had the same objective of becoming one of the top two teams in the zone and also getting a chance to enter into the knock out level of the tournament. However, only the teams like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu became the toppers in the zone and entered into the knock out level of the tournament from the South Zone.

Ranji Trophy 1978 -79, West Zone League Matches: The teams that played under the West Zone in the Ranji Trophy, 1978-79 included the likes of Saurashtra, Bombay, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Baroda. All the teams were coming from the Western region of India and they were representing various states in the Western India, in the tournament. There was a huge clash between the teams in the zonal level, as all of them were playing with the same aim of claiming the top spot in the zone and securing a birth in the knock out level of the tournament. The teams like Bombay and Maharashtra could eventually do so from the zone and they also clashed with the top teams of the other zone in the knock out level for the championship title.

Ranji Trophy 1978 -79, Knock out Matches: After the completion of the league matches in all the five zones of the tournament, the top two teams from each of the zones got an entry into the knock out level of the Ranji Trophy, 1978-79. A total of 10 teams played against each other in the knock out matches of the Ranji Trophy, 1978-79 and the teams included the likes of Bombay, Bengal, Bihar, Haryana, Baroda, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The teams competed in the Pre-Quarter-Finals, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final match of the tournament. The tournament saw the Delhi team eventually becoming successful to win the championship title, after a long gap.