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Paul Kagame, who led a rebel force that ended the mbadacre, lit a commemorative flame in the capital, Kigali.
Rwandans will mourn for 100 days, the time it took in 1994 to about one-tenth of the country to be slaughtered.
Most of the dead were Tutsi belonging to the minority and moderate Hutus killed by Hutu extremists.
"In 1994, there was no hope, only darkness," Kagame told a crowd gathered at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 victims were buried.
"Today, the light shines from this place, how did it go? Rwanda has become a family again."
How does Rwanda remember?
Commemoration activities began with the ceremony lighting the flames at the memorial. The flame will burn for 100 days.
The 61-year-old president, who has ruled the country since the end of the genocide, then delivered a speech at the Kigali convention center.
He said that the resilience and courage of the genocide survivors represented the "Rwandan character in its purest form".
"The arms of our people, closely linked, are the pillars of our nation," he said. "We support each other, our body and mind are amputated and scarred, but none of us are alone.
"Together, we wove the tattered threads of our unit into a new tapestry."
He added, "The fighting spirit is alive in us and what happened here will never happen again."
Kagame will later lead a vigil at the Amahoro National Stadium, which has been used by UN officials to try to protect Tutsis during killings.
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