Preparing tertiary amine from formaldehyde and primary and/or secondary amine

A process for preparing an N-methylated tertiary amine, which consists essentially of continuously adding an aqueous or methanolic solution of formaldehyde, for a time period of from 2 to 5 hours, to a reaction mixture consisting of (1) a primary amine, a secondary amine or mixture thereof and (2) from 10 to 500 ppm of palladium or platinum catalyst, calculated as the metal, based on said amine, the reaction mixture being continuously maintained under a hydrogen pressure of from 3 to 50 kg/cm.sup.2 gauge and at a temperature of from 80.degree. to 180.degree. C., the total amount of formaldehyde added to said reaction mixture during said time period being from 1.0 to 1.2 equivalents per each active hydrogen of said amine and the accumulation of a stoichiometrically excessive amount of formaldehyde being prevented, whereby to convert substantially quantitatively said primary or secondary amine to the corresponding N-methylated tertiary amine, then removing said catalyst by filtration and recovering said N-methylated tertiary amine.