Glancing incidence X-ray analysis (GIXA) combines gracing incidence X-ray fluorescence (GIXRF) and Xray reflectivity (XRR) to provide a powerful and versatile analysis technique for nanomaterials. The combined method enables the non-destructive characterization of layers, particles, and implantations in the nanometer range. The parameters, which can be obtained from the analysis, include layer thickness, density, surface and interface roughness, particle size and elementary depth profiles. Both techniques rely on the same physical principle of interference between the incident and the reflected beam above the surface of the substrate. GIXRF, which is a TXRF related technique, uses the X-ray standing wave, which is formed in the angular range below, near and slightly above the critical angle, to obtain angle-dependent XRF intensity curves. These curves are element-specific and thus contain information on the depth distribution of the individual elements and the composition. As GIXRF also uses the total-reflection range in the measurement, it has the same excellent detection limits and sensitivities for surface and very near surface contaminants as TXRF. GIXRF on its own suffers from ambiguities concerning density and thickness, which can be mitigated in the combined analysis. XRR uses the range near and further above the critical angle, in order to measure the intensity variations in the reflected beam, which contain information on the electron density changes in the sample. XRR is an established method for thin film characterization, but on its own does not provide information on actual elemental composition or low concentration contaminants. For both methods the requirements on the beam shaping (monochromatic, low-divergent), the sample and detector position, i.e. the overall instrumental setup, are very similar, and thus a combined analysis can be easily realized in one instrument. Furthermore, as the calculation for the evaluation is also derived from the same physical principles and relies on the same sample model, the procedure can be realized in one software package. We will take a look back to the beginnings and first steps of the combined analysis method and investigate the improvements and developments of recent years. Selected examples to showcase the capabilities for the use of the technique will be presented and we witt investigate advantages but also some limitations in it.