[3] Troilite can be found as a native mineral on Earth but is more abundant in meteorites, in particular, those originating from the Moon and Mars.

[5] Uniform presence of troilite on the Moon and possibly on Mars has been confirmed by the Apollo, Viking and Phobos space probes.

The relative intensities of isotopes of sulfur are rather constant in meteorites as compared to the Earth minerals, and therefore troilite from Canyon Diablo meteorite is chosen as the international sulfur isotope ratio standard, the Canyon Diablo Troilite (CDT).

In 1862, German mineralogist Gustav Rose analyzed the material and recognized it as stoichiometric 1:1 FeS and gave it the name troilite in recognition of the work of Domenico Troili.

In the South African and Australian occurrence it is associated with copper, nickel, platinum iron ore deposits occurring with pyrrhotite, pentlandite, mackinawite, cubanite, valleriite, chalcopyrite and pyrite.

[16][17] Based on observations by the Voyager spacecraft in 1979 and Galileo in 1996, troilite might also be present in the rocks of Jupiter’s satellites Ganymede and Callisto.