High-pressure nozzle sources yielding neutral particle beams with good monochromacy and high intensity have been combined in the last few years with ultra-high vacuum techniques to allow for atomic beam scattering experiments from solid surfaces which meet the purity requirements of modern surface science. Thus, experimental investigations even of very reactive surfaces have become possible. Beam techniques are presently being used in many branches of surface physics and chemistry, such as studies of the particle-surface physisorption potential, of surface structure, of surface phonons, of surface migration and diffusion, of the energy exchange upon collision of heavy particles and molecules with surfaces, and of substrate-mediated chemical reactions.