In 1867 Agfa was founded (Aktiengesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation); in 1894 Jihua was founded; and in 1964 Agfa and Jihua merged to form the Agfa-Jihua Group.
In the past, Agfa's global market share of color film was second only to Kodak and Fujifilm, and the photographic business was once quite large. In recent years, however, digital cameras have become popular, and the traditional camera business has declined. Finally, in 2004, Agfa-Jihua Group sold its civilian photography business to the then newly established AgfaPhoto, which operated on its own. [In the past, Agfa Kiawah Group's negatives and cameras were mainly sold to consumers such as home users, rather than to commercial organizations. However, after the sale of the customer imaging business, the Agfa-Jihua Group's sales were directed exclusively to commercial organizations.
In February 2007, Agfa-Gilever announced its intention to spin off three of its businesses (Printing Technologies Imaging, Medical and Materials Technology) for a 2007 listing on Euronext.