The municipality lies at the foot of the Bruggerberg and the Reinerberg, the southeast foothills of the Jura Mountains.

The latter two were part of an independent municipality called Rein until 1898.. Rüfenach lies furthest west in the middle of a flat plain.

Of the rest of the land, 0.48 square kilometers (0.19 sq mi) or 11.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.02 km2 (4.9 acres) or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes.

Neighboring municipalities are Villigen to the north and northeast, Brugg to the southeast, Riniken to the southwest, and Remigen to the northwest.

Since the 8th century, Rein was the center of a court, that belonged to the cloister of Murbach in Alsace.

In 1345, Queen Agnes of Hungary gave Rein to the cloister of Wittichen im Kinzigtal in the Black Forest.

When the city of Bern conquered the area west of the Aare in 1460, the rights of the cloister were not affected.

In 1799, the front line between the two coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars ran right down the center of the valley of the Aare.

About a hundred years later, the canton actively promoted a policy of fusion, and Rein was combined with Rüfenach.

[5] The church that was once the central point of the municipality dates from the 9th century and has romanesque and gothic elements.

In its place, a new church was built in 1864 designed by the Zürich architect, Johann Kaspar Wolf.

In 1814 the textile industrialist Johann Heinrich Meyer founded an orphanage and poorhouse.

[8] The age distribution, as of 2008[update], in Rüfenach is; 81 children or 9.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 142 teenagers or 16.3% are between 10 and 19.

[10] The main highway from Stilli to Remigen and Laufenburg runs about 100 m north of the municipality.