The use of roof tiles spread with the development of the Greek architecture when stone walls began to appear in place of mud brick and wood walls, as those could bear the weight of heavy roof tiles. The main purpose of roofing tiles, besides the esthetics, is to keep rain and sunshine out. Roofing tiles are generally made of clay and slate, though products like cement roof tiles, concrete roof tiles, ceramic roof tiles and steel roofing are also increasingly used in several parts of the world. Besides covering the uppermost part of a building, roofing tiles can be used to build awnings or sunshades over various structures such as balconies, terraces, verandas and patios.

Clay roof tiles have been in use as early as the 3rd millennium BC in ancient Greece and are even used today in many parts of the world. A slate tile is a flat sheet of natural rock mined and then cut to suitable sizes. Slate is particularly suitable as a roofing material as it has an extremely low water absorption index. Its low tendency to absorb water also makes it very resistant to frost damage and breakage due to freezing.

Roof tiles have to be fixed with nails or cemented on the framework of a roof (roof trusses). Roof trusses are the framework of beams forming a rigid structure that supports a roof. The tiles are usually hung in parallel rows, with each row overlapping the row below it to exclude rainwater and to cover the nails that hold the row below. There are also roof tiles for special positions, particularly where the planes of the several pitches meet. They include ridge, hip and valley tiles.
Metal roofing is a system of suing metal sheets or tiles, which is very versatile and durable building material. These are light in weight and are fire and wind resistant. Metal roof tiles are often used in large buildings and stadiums due to their high strength to weight ratio.

Solar roof tiles made of photovoltaic materials are increasingly used in the roofs and facades of modern buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical energy.  The power generated by the solar roof tiles is used in feeding electricity to the national grid, which in turn supplies electrical power the building at subsidized rates.