Pure carbon disulfide has a pleasant, ether- or chloroform-like odor, but commercial samples are usually yellowish and are typically contaminated with foul-smelling impurities.

[9] In 1796, the German chemist Wilhelm August Lampadius (1772–1842) first prepared carbon disulfide by heating pyrite with moist charcoal.

Global production/consumption of carbon disulfide is approximately one million tonnes, with China consuming 49%, followed by India at 13%, mostly for the production of rayon fiber.

[15] Carbon disulfide can dissolve a variety of nonpolar chemicals including phosphorus, sulfur, selenium, bromine, iodine, fats, resins, rubber, and asphalt.

[16] In March 2024, traces of CS2 were likely detected in the atmosphere of the temperate mini-Neptune planet TOI-270 d by the James Webb Space Telescope.

[17] Combustion of CS2 affords sulfur dioxide according to this ideal stoichiometry: For example, amines afford dithiocarbamates:[18] Xanthates form similarly from alkoxides:[18] This reaction is the basis of the manufacture of regenerated cellulose, the main ingredient of viscose, rayon, and cellophane.

Both xanthates and the related thioxanthates (derived from treatment of CS2 with sodium thiolates) are used as flotation agents in mineral processing.

[23] The principal industrial uses of carbon disulfide, consuming 75% of the annual production, are the manufacture of viscose rayon and cellophane film.

It is widely used in the synthesis of organosulfur compounds such as xanthates, which are used in froth flotation, a method for extracting metals from their ores.

Carbon disulfide is also a precursor to dithiocarbamates, which are used as drugs (e.g. Metam sodium) and rubber chemistry.

[25] Carbon disulfide is also used as an insecticide for the fumigation of grains, nursery stock, in fresh fruit conservation, and as a soil disinfectant against insects and nematodes.

Carbon disulfide has been linked to both acute and chronic forms of poisoning, with a diverse range of symptoms.

Sir Thomas Oliver told a story about a rubber factory that put bars on its windows so that the workers would not jump out to their deaths.

[38]: 17  Carbon disulfide's use in the US as a heavier-than-air burrow poison for Richardson's ground squirrel also led to reports of psychosis.

Courtaulds, a major rayon manufacturer, worked hard to prevent publication of this data in the UK.