1. A process that produces thin metallic coatings on objects without the application of external electric current.
2. Plating from an aqueous solution on any surface, caused by an autocatalytic chemical reduction.
3. The deposition of a metallic coating, usually nickel, on a component by chemical means rather than by electroplating.

The component is immersed in a solution containing a reducing agent.

4. A chemical reduction process which, once initiated, is autocatalytic or something whose occurrence at one point increases the probability that it will occur again at another point.

The process is similar to electroplating except that no outside current is needed and the metal ions are reduced by chemical agents in the plating solutions, and deposit on the substrate.

An advantage of electroless plating with current is that there is a more uniform thickness of the surface coating.