Kevin Davies and Ivan Campo grabbed the goals as Bolton got their Premiership campaign off to a winning start.
Bolton went in front after less than 10 minutes when striker Davies broke free from his marker to head in from Gary Speed's corner.
Campo doubled their lead with a stunning strike from well outside the area that flew past Paul Robinson.
Tottenham were strangely below-par and had England keeper Robinson to thank for preventing further damage.
Bolton endured a torrid pre-season with five defeats in six games and with manager Sam Allardyce supposedly frustrated by a lack of signings.
But within nine minutes that was all forgotten as Allardyce's side were off the mark through a typical goal from one of the manager's old favourites.
Spurs defender Calum Davenport appeared to be held back by Abdoulaye Meite, allowing Davies a free run to the near post where he met Speed's corner with a powerful header.
Four minutes later and Bolton doubled their advantage through a Campo wonder strike.
Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas made a slack attempt at a clearance, but there looked little danger as Campo ran on to hit a ball that was nearer the halfway line than the edge of Spurs' area.
The Spaniard connected cleanly with a low, curling shot that wrongfooted Robinson and inspired a delighted Bolton chairman Phil Gartside to embrace Allardyce.
Tottenham had handed debuts to striker Dimitar Berbatov along with Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Didier Zokora.
Berbatov showed a neat touch but was given little room to impress by a Bolton backline well marshalled by Trotters new boy Meite.
Spurs striker Jermain Defoe was given a hint of space in the Bolton area midway through the first half but Jussi Jaaskelainen was equal to his well placed shot.
That was about as good as it got for Spurs in an uninspiring first half display.
The influential Speed could have made it 3-0 but a flying save from Robinson prevented his free-kick from going in the top corner, while at the other end Jenas' poor effort from a similar area summed up Spurs' first-half performance.
Things briefly brightened up for Spurs after the break as Aaron Lennon drove in on goal only for Tal Ben Haim to get across and produce a potentially goal-saving block.
Berbatov got a sniff of a debut goal when he was sent through but when he tried to go round Jaaskelainen the keeper anticipated well to cut out the danger.
But Bolton were still the more likely scorers as Kevin Nolan side-footed just wide after a poor Michael Dawson clearance and Robinson's brilliant point-blank save beat out El-Hadji Diouf's header.
