The incompatibility of ceramics with metals can be a concern in the processing of advanced materials. The adhesion and wetting problem can be resolved by, for example, the application of coatings on the ceramic surface. A simple technique for metallic deposition on non-conductive substrates is through electroless plating. This technique was applied on different ceramic surfaces to overcome important processing difficulties. This presentation focuses on the deposition characteristics as well as implementation of the process for producing and joining advanced materials. Among the numerous examples of application of this technique, two cases will be presented. (1) Al2O3 and SiC ceramics particulates were coated with copper and nickel and then vacuum infiltrated. The metallic coating overcame the poor wettability problem of aluminum on the reinforcement. (2) Copper was deposited on titanium powder to fabricate a composite powder, which is used as an active brazing alloy for joining ceramics. The titanium powder is protected and oxidation is limited and hence a lower processing vacuum can be used.