TFA is prepared industrially by the electrofluorination of acetyl chloride or acetic anhydride, followed by hydrolysis of the resulting trifluoroacetyl fluoride:
Where desired, this compound may be dried by addition of trifluoroacetic anhydride.
An older route to TFA proceeds via the oxidation of 1,1,1-trifluoro-2,3,3-trichloropropene with potassium permanganate. The trifluorotrichloropropene can be prepared by Swarts fluorination of hexachloropropene.