Resonance fluorescence excitation of neutral atoms using tunable radiation from dye lasers offers a number of unique advantages for impurity studies in fusion devices. Using this technique, it is possible to perform local time‐resolved measurements of the densities and velocity distributions of metallic impurities in fusion devices without disturbing the plasma. Velocities are measured by monitoring the fluorescence intensity while tuning narrow bandwidth laser radiation through the Doppler‐broadened absorptionspectrum of the transition. The knowledge of the velocity distribution of neutral impurities is particularly useful for the determination of impurity introduction mechanisms. The laser fluorescence technique will be described in terms of its application to metallic impurities in fusion devices and related laboratory experiments. Particular attention will be given to recent results from the ISX‐B tokamak using pulsed dye lasers where detection sensitivities for neutral Fe of 106 atoms/cm3 with a velocity resolution of 600 m/s (0.1 eV) have been achieved.