Pioneer of many specialist applications of gold since its founding in 1843 by Friedrich Ernst Roessler, German refiner and semi-fabricator, Degussa, became a joint stock company in 1873. Its liquid or bright gold for ceramic decoration was launched in 1879. A leading manufacturer of a wide range of gold products including dental gold, gold potassium cyanide, liquid gold and jewellery alloys, Degussa also has refining and manufacturing plants in Brazil, Canada and the United States. In 1999, a new corporation was set up trading world-wide under the name of Degussa-Hüls AG. Subsequent to this, and the merger of Degussa-Hüls with the VIAG subsidiary, SKW Trostberg AG, a new Degussa AG with headquarters in Düsseldorf was formed retroactively from 1 July 2000.

On 12 March 2001, the European Commission anti trust authority gave Degussa AG of Dusseldorf competition clearance for Degussa's takeover offer for the British specialty chemicals corporation Laporte plc.