First half goals by Darren Anderton and Helder Postiga, along with an injury time strike from Fredi Kanoute, were enough to send David Pleat's men through, despite Robbie Fowler scoring a second half consolation for struggling City.
The home side were the brightest from the start and it took less than ten minutes for Spurs to break the deadlock.
Anderton superbly controlled a clearance with his chest and right thigh before striking a low shot from just outside the box past City goalkeeper Kevin Stuhr-Ellegaard to make it 1-0.
The England international went close to making two when a free kick broke the City wall but Stuhr-Ellegaard made an excellent diving save before the rebound was cleared.
But Pleat's men would not be denied and Postiga pounced to make it 2-0 on the half hour mark with a fine right foot finish after City's Trevor Sinclair failed to deal with a Rohan Ricketts cross from the right in the box.
The North London club always looked more likely to score in the opening half while City posed little threat to Spurs keeper Kasey Keller, as Michael Tarnat and Claudio Reyna saw efforts sail high and wide.
The second half saw a better response from Kevin Keegan's men, as Reyna and in particular Joey Barton went close with solid chances to pull the visitors to within a goal.
However, Spurs showed their attacking sense as Robbie Keane forced a save from Stuhr-Ellegaard with a chip and Ledley King went agonisingly close with a low effort that went just wide of goal.
With ten minutes left, Fowler made the match more of a contest as he headed a poor Gary Doherty clearance past Keller to make it 2-1.
But Spurs sealed their passage to the quarter finals as a Paul Konchesky run down the left saw him square a ball for Kanoute to finish easily in injury time for a 3-1 victory.
Click below for match summaries:
Carling Cup fourth round
Tottenham 3-1 Man City
| | Tottenham | Man City |
| Possession % | 46% | 54% |
| Goals | 3 | 1 |
| Shots on target | 7 | 3 |
| Shots off target | 7 | 6 |
| Blocked shots | 3 | 10 |
| Corners | 1 | 6 |
| Fouls | 11 | 9 |
| Offsides | 2 | 5 |
| Yellow cards | 1 | 2 |
| Red cards | 0 | 0 |
 | ||
