Ammonium citrate tribasic is mainly used for chemical analysis, in industry for water treatment, in industry for buffering agent and emulsifier, for metal surface cleaning (in particular petroleum pipeline cleaning), as a ceramic dispersant, as auxiliary infiltration agent, as detergent material and as soil improvement agent component. Ammonium citrate tribasic is applied in electroplating industry for non-cyanide plating complexing agent, used mostly for preparing anti rust agent in machinery industry and as buffering agent. It serves as a chemical reagent in analytical chemistry to determine the efficient phosphate levels in phosphate salts and fertilizer.

It is used to make rustproofing compounds and plasticizers; as a food additive; stabilizing agent.