The behaviour of metallic materials subjected to solid particle erosion has been studied extensively over the last few decades. It is not the purpose of this paper to provide a comprehensive review of the above body of work especially since many such reviews already exist. Rather, the aim of this paper is to describe briefly the salient features characteristic of room temperature and elevated temperature erosion of metallic materials and follow it up with a review of some of the recent results, which in our opinion, have enhanced our current understanding in the area of solid particle erosion of metallic materials. As a natural consequence, the paper concludes with a critical review of the areas which require further study. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.