It was a significant success as it lifted City back into the top half of the table after a turbulent season in which their form has lacked consistency.
And though it was a largely meaningless match, involving two mid-table teams, it proved an entertaining encounter with a feast of attacking football.
City's match-winning goal came in the ninth minute after Robinho and Stephen Ireland worked a quick and well-rehearsed free kick routine.
Ireland floated the ball into the penalty area and Micah Richards fired the ball across the face of goal for Felipe Caicedo to score from close range for his eighth goal of the season.
And City were unlucky not to have built an even larger first-half lead after Robinho struck an upright, while Shaun Wright-Phillips and Richards were both denied by super saves from Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Bolton could well have also got on to the scoresheet in a lively opening period when they had two shouts for penalties rejected, after Caicedo and Vincent Kompany both appeared to handle while Richards cleared a shot from Gary Cahill off the goal-line.
Caicedo, the 20-year old from Ecuador whose place is under threat if City sign a big-name striker in the summer, certainly impressed manager Mark Hughes.
Early in the second half Caicedo cut in from the right and fired narrowly wide from outside the penalty area as City stepped up their bid for a second goal which would have sealed victory.
Wright-Phillips, who made a surprise return after a seven-match lay-off for a knee injury, twice fired narrowly wide while Nedum Onuoha almost burst through on goal after a fabulous solo run.
Hughes handed teenage winger Vladimir Weiss, a Slovakian who is a member of City's FA Youth Cup winning team of 2008, a first-team debut when he replaced Ireland.
Hughes also gave a long-awaited debut to Brazilian defender Leandro Glauber five minutes from time after 20 previous appearances on the bench as an unused substitute.
Try as they did, City found a second goal elusive though that was mainly due to the heroics of Finnish keeper Jaaskelainen.
The keeper showed great athleticism to turn a deflected effort from Wright-Phillips over the crossbar and also to tip over a long-range effort from Robinho, which was destined for the top corner of the net.