Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at visible wavelengths of any known crystal and also exhibits a particularly large birefringence and high dispersion.

Rutile derives its name from the Latin rutilus ('red'), in reference to the deep red color observed in some specimens when viewed by transmitted light.

Rutile was first described in 1803 by Abraham Gottlob Werner using specimens obtained in Horcajuelo de la Sierra, Madrid (Spain),[6] which is consequently the type locality.

Thermodynamically, rutile is the most stable polymorph of TiO2 at all temperatures, exhibiting lower total free energy than metastable phases of anatase or brookite.

As it has the lowest molecular volume of the three main polymorphs, it is generally the primary titanium-bearing phase in most high-pressure metamorphic rocks, chiefly eclogites.

In 2005 the Republic of Sierra Leone in West Africa had a production capacity of 23% of the world's annual rutile supply, which rose to approximately 30% in 2008.

[10] Rutile crystals are most commonly observed to exhibit a prismatic or acicular growth habit with preferential orientation along their c axis, the [001] direction.

In large enough quantities in beach sands, rutile forms an important constituent of heavy minerals and ore deposits.

Nanoscale particles of rutile are transparent to visible light but are highly effective in the absorption of ultraviolet radiation (sunscreen).

As the result of growing research interest in the photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide, in both anatase and rutile phases (as well as biphasic mixtures of the two phases), rutile TiO2 in powder and thin film form is frequently fabricated in laboratory conditions through solution based routes using inorganic precursors (typically TiCl4) or organometallic precursors (typically alkoxides such as titanium isopropoxide, also known as TTIP).