The Clinton River is a river located in southeastern Michigan, United States. It is named after DeWitt Clinton, who was the governor of New York from 1817 to 1823.

The main branch of the river begins in wetlands and coldwater streams within Independence, Brandon, and Springfield townships in Oakland County. A series of dams forms several small lakes west of Pontiac, with the last one being Crystal Lake. The river flows under downtown Pontiac and reappears east of the city. The north and middle branches begin in northern Macomb County and join the main branch in Clinton Township, which was named after the river in 1824. The main branch flows 83 miles (133.6 kilometers) from its source to Lake St. Clair in Harrison Township.

The Clinton River watershed covers 760 square miles (2,000 square kilometers), including most of Macomb County, a large part of Oakland County, and small areas of Lapeer and St. Clair counties. Over 1.4 million people in more than 60 cities live in this area. Most of the river is not navigable by boats, except for the section downstream of Mount Clemens.

In 1972, the lower part of the river was labeled an Area of Concern under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, due to pollution. This designation was later expanded to include the entire river watershed and the lower part of Lake St. Clair.

The Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal was an attempt to build a waterway connecting Lake St. Clair to Lake Michigan. The project was planned to be 216 miles long but was abandoned after only 13 miles were completed.

French explorers in the late 1700s called the river Nottawasippee, an Ojibwe word meaning "like rattlesnakes." This name was also used by the Anishinaabe people (Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi) to refer to the Huron people. British fur traders called it the Huron River of St. Clair. In 1784, the river was referred to as "the River Huron" in a speech honoring William Tucker, the area’s first American settler, who built his home near the river.

The river was renamed Clinton River on July 17, 1824, to avoid confusion with the Huron River in Lake Erie, which also starts in Oakland County.

The Huron-Clinton Metroparks system protects land in the watershed as public parks. Wolcott Mill Metropark is located on the north branch of the river.