Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin netted a 90th-minute winner to give the visitors the lead on goal difference from Mainz, who host Hamburg on Saturday seeking a record eighth consecutive win of the new season.
Dortmund started strongly despite the heavy rain in front of a capacity 50,000 crowd at the Rhein Energie Stadion.
Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios headed over the crossbar from Jakub Blazczykowski's cross when he should have scored, but Cologne went closer when Lukas Podolski smashed a right-foot volley against crossbar.
Barrios then headed against the bar from Sahin's free-kick, and the breakthrough came in the 20th minute when Blazczykowski pounced from close range after the forward's effort was only blocked.
Dortmund failed to capitalize on several chances, and it looked like Podolski had earned Cologne a point in the 82nd minute when the Germany World Cup star fired in a rising shot from the edge of the penalty area.
However, Sahin had the final say as he forced the ball past goalkeeper Miro Varvodic to leave Cologne third from bottom, giving Dortmund a seventh win from eight games.
How Germany's 'Carnival Club' is finding success
Mainz are 10 points ahead of seventh-placed Hamburg, with both teams welcoming several players back after the international break.
In Saturday's other games, defending champions Bayern Munich are at home to third-placed Hannover as Louis van Gaal's team seek to reduce the 13-point deficit on the top two teams.
Last season's runners-up Schalke host Stuttgart in a battle of the bottom two teams, while fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen travel to Wolfsburg, who are eighth.
Fifth-placed Freiburg travel to Werder Bremen and promoted St. Pauli are at home to Nuremberg, while on Sunday Kaiserslautern host Eintracht Frankfurt and sixth-placed Hoffenheim take on Borussia Monchengladbach.
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