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Non‐Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) are underestimated causes of cancer in West Africa where chronic viral hepatitis and HIV are endemic. While the association with HIV infection has already been characterized, limited information is available on the association between chronic viral hepatitis and NHL in sub‐Saharan Africa. A case‐control study was conducted in referral hospitals of Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire) and Dakar (Senegal). Cases of NHL were matched with controls on age, gender and participating site. The diagnosis of NHL relied on local pathological examination completed with immunohistochemistry. HIV, HBV and HCV serology tests were systematically performed. A conditional logistic regression model estimated the associations by the Odds Ratio (OR) with their 95% confidence interval (CI). A total of 117 NHL cases (Abidjan n = 97, Dakar n = 20) and their 234 matched controls were enrolled. Cases were predominantly men (68.4%) and had a median age of 50 years (IQR 37‐57). While Diffuse Large B‐cell lymphoma were the most reported morphological type (n = 35) among mature B‐cell NHL, the proportion mature T‐cell NHL (30%) was high. The prevalence figures of HBV, HCV and HIV infection were 12.8%, 7.7% and 14.5%, respectively among cases of NHL. In multivariate analysis, HBV, HCV and HIV were independently associated with NHL with OR of 2.23 (CI 1.05‐4.75), 4.82 (CI 1.52‐15.29) and 3.32 (CI 1.54‐7.16), respectively. Chronic viral hepatitis B and C were significantly associated with NHL in West Africa. Timely preventive measures against HBV infection and access to curative anti‐HCV treatment might prevent a significant number of NHL. What's new? While hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is positively associated with non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in some regions of the world, whether HBV increases risk of NHL remains uncertain. In this case‐control study based on data from referral hospitals in sub‐Saharan Africa, the authors describe a significant association between HBV infection and NHL. In West Africa, NHL was significantly associated with chronic infection with HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV). The findings suggest that the implementation of measures to prevent HBV infection, along with efforts to ensure access to anti‐HCV treatments, could greatly reduce NHL in settings with high HBV prevalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]