The shell is small, elongated and rather narrow. The spire is low and conical with a large pink protoconch. The sub-sutural zone is marked with tiny red-brown dots. The shell colour is beige or a greyish beige, with the pattern composed of almost parallel zigzag red-brown lines running from the sub-sutural area to the two wrinkles on the fasciolar band. The fasciolar part has barely visible fine folds on the parietal zone. The aperture is a royal purple.

This species differs from Oliva rufofulgurata by its smaller elongated shape, its rather larger protoconch and especially by the barely visible folds on the parietal part. Oliva dubia is a deep water species (45 - 100 m).