The noble family possibly descended from Count Palatine Wigeric of Lotharingia (d. before 923), the founder of the House of Ardenne.

When he divided his estates among his heirs, his younger son Hermann received the County of Salm and thereby became the progenitor of the comital dynasty.

During the Great Saxon Revolt, he even was elected German anti-king in opposition to King Henry IV in 1081, however, he remained isolated until his death in 1088.

In the German Mediatisation of 1803, the Princes of Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg received the southwestern estates of the former Prince-Bishopric of Münster with the Lordship of Anholt and ruled the newly established Principality of Salm jointly as a condominium.

Among its notable members were the counts of Lower Salm in the Ardennes, advocati of the abbaye Saint-Pierre at Senones, counts of Upper Salm in the Vosges mountains, governors of Nancy, marshals of Lorraine, marshals of Bar, princes of the Holy Roman Empire and sovereign princes of the Principality of Salm-Salm: