The growth as well as the compositional, electronic and structural properties of thin Au films deposited on a Pd(110) single crystal have been studied by means of ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), photoemission of adsorbed xenon (PAX) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) as a function of film thickness (ranging from submonolayer amounts up to multilayers) and temperature. Our investigations indicate a Volmer-Weber growth mode of Au on Pd(110) at a deposition temperature of 300 K and below. As former studies already have shown, depositing Au amounts of less than 1 ML results in the formation of unreconstructed pseudomorphic Au islands. Above a critical thickness of 2 ML the formation of a (1 × 2) missing-row reconstruction typical for Au can be observed. This reconstructed Au bilayer is still in registry with Pd(110) and, thus, strained. Furthermore, our experiments show a strong temperature dependence of the surface morphology. Au multilayers prepared at 150 K, which are already quite flat, undergo a weak smoothening of the topmost atomic layer by annealing the sample up to 350 K. At a surface temperature of ∼ 450 K the diffusion of Au atoms into the bulk is initiated at the Au-Pd interface. Annealing a 3 ML thick Au film to 600 K finally results in the formation of an Au-Pd surface alloy, which is stable up to 900 K. A complete loss of Au from the surface can be detected at around 1050 K. Adsorption of CO as a probe molecule on the Au containing surfaces is only possible at low temperatures. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2009.448]