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Maize (Zea mays L.) is severely affected by drought and this challenge is expected to worsen with climate change. One of the most promising solutions is breeding for drought tolerance that requires the identification of sources of drought tolerance. Eighteen maize populations from the Algerian Sahara were evaluated along with three European and two American checks in two Algerian locations under drought and control conditions. Under drought conditions, Algerian populations had large variability for most traits and the populations BTM and LOM out yielded most checks. The ratio yield under drought/yield under control conditions was 65.90, 65.33, and 53.23% for BTM, TAO and LOM, respectively. These populations maintained also yield components such as grain weight, ear length, number of kernel rows, ears per plant, and leaf area under stress conditions; furthermore, they have reduced leaf rolling. TAO and BTM presented the highest relative water content, and LOM had the highest proline content. Algerian populations can be considered as a novel source of favorable alleles for drought tolerance and show a wide variety of mechanisms of response to drought.