Amina Cachalia, daughter of Ebrahim Ismail Asvat and Fatima Issack, was born on 28 June 1932, as the ninth of 11 children. She grew up in the Vereeniging location of Johannesburg and later moved to Newclare, west of Johannesburg. Her first school attendance was at a 'Coloured' Afrikaans medium school and later at an 'Indian school', after the family had moved to Fordsburg in Johannesburg.

The 1946 the Passive Resistance Campaign involved most members of the Asvat family. Amina too elected to go to prison but was considered too young at the time. In 1948 she was offered a scholarship by the Indian Government to further her studies in India but was refused a passport. Later that year she co-founded the Women's Progressive Union, of which she became the Secretary, and later went on to join the Indian Youth Congress, where she served as a National Executive member.

When the Congress Alliance launched the Defiance Campaign in 1952, she was one of the youngest women arrested and sent to prison. In 1954 she participated in the inaugural launch of the Federation of South African Women FEDSAW), together with Lilian Ngoyi and Helen Joseph, and later served as the National Treasurer.

In July 1955 she was married to Yusuf Cachalia, son of Ahmed Muhammad Cachalia and Katija Cachalia (Nanie)ø, then Secretary of the South African Indian Congress, with whom she was to have two children, Ghaleb and Dilshad (Coco). Yusuf Cachalia died on 10 May 1995 at the age of 80.

Amina Cachalia was an organizer of the historic march of 20,000 women on the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956. She was served with her first banning order in 1963, which was re-imposed successively between 1963-1978. Her husband Yusuf spent 27 years as a banned person and 10 years under house arrest. When her banning order was not repeated in 1980 she immediately resumed active politics during the campaign to oppose the Tricameral Parliament. She was elected patron of the Federation of Transvaal Women (FEDTRAW). She continued to work towards the United Democratic Front (UDF).

Additionally, she served as a director of Snapper Clothes (Pty) Ltd, a company which she and her late husband started in 1958.

With the beginning of South Africa's new dispensation in 1994, Amina Cachalia continued her active political service in various capacities. She was instrumental in Nelson Mandela's Presidency; later became a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and other charities; served on the Finance Committee of the ANC Women's League, being the Treasurer of the PWV Region; was the ANC candidate for the National Assembly; and she became chairperson of the 'World in Soweto' Project, geared to the upliftment of Soweto.

On the 20 April 2004 she became South Africa's first Indian woman to receive an honorary degree in Law from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Amina Cachalia is the recipient of The National Order of Luthuli in Bronze, awarded to her for her lifetime contribution to the struggle for gender equality, non-racialism and a free and democratic South Africa.