Benzoyl chloride is produced from benzotrichloride using either water or benzoic acid:
As with other acyl chlorides, it can be generated from the parent acid and other chlorinating agents phosphorus pentachloride or thionyl chloride.
Representative laboratory routes to aromatic acyl halides are comparable to those for aliphatic acyl halides. For example, chloroformylation, a specific type of Friedel-Crafts acylation which uses formaldehyde as a reagent, or by the direct chlorination of benzaldehyde derivatives.