Hard X‐ray photon‐in photon‐out techniques are targeted at applications where the sample environment cannot be freely chosen. The resultant X‐ray emission spectra are influenced by the chemical environments of the atoms involved. If high‐resolution measurements are possible, the chemical effects in the X‐ray emission spectra can provide information about the chemical states, complementary to that offered by other X‐ray spectroscopies. X‐ray emission is classified into six categories for convenience: X‐ray diagram lines, X‐ray valence‐band emission, radiative Auger effect, resonant X‐ray emission, Compton scattering, and X‐ray Raman scattering. After a brief description of the history of research on these types of emission, the chemical effects that they reveal and related topics, including high‐resolution absorption measurements and the static structure factor, are reviewed. An overview of the instrumentation employed in both laboratories and synchrotron radiation (SR) facilities is also given.