The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest of New Zealand's sporting contacts with apartheid-era South Africa, as well as by Uganda, in protest of alleged Canadian hostility towards the government of Idi Amin. The Bid Election was held at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

This was the first Commonwealth Games where a computerised system was used to handle ticket sales.

46 teams were represented at the 1978 Games.
(Teams competing for the first time are shown in bold).