Abstract Cold spraying is a solid-state powder deposition process with several unique characteristics, allowing production of coatings or bulk components from a wide range of materials. The process has attracted much attention from academia and industry over the past two decades. The technical interest in cold spraying is twofold: first as a coating process for applications in surface technology, and second as a solid-state additive manufacturing process, offering an alternative to selective laser melting or electron beam melting methods. Moreover, cold spraying can be used to study materials behaviour under extremely high strain rates, high pressures and high cooling rates. The cold spraying process is thus considered to be relevant for various industrial applications, as well as for fundamental studies in materials science. This article aims to provide an overview of the cold spray process, the current understanding of the deposition mechanisms, and the related models and experiments, from a materials science perspective.