Chemical treatment of textile materials (fibers, yarns and fabrics) is also called printing and dyeing in modern times. Dyeing and finishing, together with spinning, weaving or knitting, constitute the whole process of textile production. Dyeing and finishing includes pretreatment, dyeing, printing and finishing. The quality of dyeing and finishing has an important influence on the use value of textiles. Pretreatment, also known as scouring and bleaching, is mainly to remove impurities from textile materials, so that the subsequent dyeing, printing and finishing processes can be carried out smoothly and the expected processing effect can be obtained. Dyeing is the physical or chemical combination of dyes and fibers to make textile materials have a certain color. Printing is to obtain color patterns on textiles with color paste. Finishing is to improve the appearance of fabric such as luster and shape through physical action or using chemical reagents; Improve the wearability of the fabric or make the fabric have the characteristics of water and oil repellent. Most finishing processes are carried out in the later stage of fabric dyeing and finishing. In the dyeing and finishing of wool fabrics, many pretreatment processes are often classified as finishing, which is divided into wet finishing and dry finishing.

Dyeing and finishing is the concept of modern printing and dyeing, and it is the scientific definition after chemical finishing is dissolved into printing and dyeing industry. Although there was a rudiment of finishing in ancient times, the whole textile processing was mainly based on printing and dyeing, and finishing was only a secondary link, so there was no word "printing and dyeing" in ancient times, only "printing and dyeing" was used. In modern times, various new technologies such as anti-wrinkle, anti-bacteria, anti-static, anti-ultraviolet, fire prevention, waterproof and breathable finishing have emerged one after another. The word "printing and dyeing" has been difficult to sum up the full meaning of dyeing and finishing, so it is used more. But traditionally, the word printing and dyeing is still widely used in the industry, but in fact, dyeing and finishing is printing and dyeing, and there is no difference between them.