The first collaboration among the future Faces was in a formation called Quiet Melon, which also featured Art Wood and Kim Gardner; they recorded four songs and played a few shows in May 1969, during a break in Ronnie Wood's and Rod Stewart's commitments with the Jeff Beck Group. Later that summer Wood and Stewart parted ways with Beck and joined Lane, McLagan and Jones full time.

With the addition of Stewart and Wood, the "small" part of the original band name was dropped, partly because the two newcomers (at 5'8" and 5'9" respectively) were significantly taller than the three former Small Faces. Hoping to capitalise on the Small Faces' earlier success, record company executives wanted the band to keep their old name; however, the band objected, arguing the personnel changes resulted in a group very different from Small Faces. As a compromise, in the US their debut album was credited to Small Faces, while subsequent albums appeared under their new name.

The group regularly toured Britain, Europe and the United States from 1970 to 1975, and were among the top-grossing live acts in that period; in 1974 their touring also encompassed Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Among their most successful songs were "Had Me a Real Good Time", their breakthrough UK hit "Stay with Me", "Cindy Incidentally" and "Pool Hall Richard".

As Rod Stewart's solo career became more successful than that of the group, the band became overshadowed by their lead singer. A disillusioned Ronnie Lane left the band in 1973; one reason given later for his departure was frustration over not having more opportunities to sing lead vocals.

Lane's role as bassist was taken over by Tetsu Yamauchi (who had replaced Andy Fraser in Free). Released at about the time Lane left, the Faces' final studio album was Ooh La La.

A live album early the following year, Coast to Coast: Overture and Beginners, was criticised by reviewers for being poorly recorded. They recorded a few tracks for another studio album, but had lost enthusiasm and their final release as a group was the late 1974 UK Top 20 hit "You Can Make Me Dance, Sing, or Anything".

In 1975 Wood began working with the Rolling Stones, which brought differences between Stewart and the others to a head, and in December the band announced that they were splitting.