The greatest portions of Mughal expansion was accomplished during the reign of Akbar (1556-1605). The empire was maintained as the dominant force of the present-day Indian subcontinent for a hundred years further by his successors Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb. The first six emperors, who enjoyed power both ‘’de jure’’ and ‘’de facto’’, are usually referred to by just one name, a title adopted upon his accession by each Emperor. The relevant title is bolded in the list below.

Akbar initiated certain important policies, such as religious liberalism (abolition of the jizya tax), inclusion of Hindus in the affairs of the empire, and political alliance/marriage with the Hindu Rajput caste, that were innovative for his milieu; he also adopted some policies of Sher Shah Suri, such as the division of the empire into sarkars, in his administration of the empire. These policies, which undoubtedly served to maintain the power and stability of the empire, were preserved by his two immediate successors but were discarded by Aurangzeb, who pursued a policy where religious tolerance had little space. Furthermore, Aurangzeb spent nearly his entire career seeking to expand his realm into the Deccan and south India; this venture sapped the resources of the empire while provoking strong resistance from the Marathas, Sikhs, and Rajputs.

After Aurangzeb's reign, the empire fell into decline. Beginning with Bahadur Shah I, the Mughal Emperors progressively declined in power and became figureheads, being initially controlled by sundry courtiers and later by various rising warlords. In the 18th century, the Empire suffered the depredations of invaders like Nadir Shah of Persia and Ahmed Shah Abdali of Afghanistan, who repeatedly sacked Delhi, the Mughal capital. The greater portion of the empire's territories in India passed to the Marathas before falling to the British. In 1803, the blind and powerless Shah Alam II formally accepted the protection of the British East India Company. The British had already begun to refer to the weakened Mughal as "King of Delhi" rather than "Emperor of India", a usage, formalized in 1803, which avoided the uncomfortable implication that the British sovereign was outranked by the Indian monarch. Nonetheless, for a few decades afterwards, the BEIC continued to rule the areas under its control as the nominal servants of the emperor, and in his name. In 1827 even these courtesies were dispensed with. After some rebels in the Sepoy Rebellion declared their allegiance to Shah Alam's descendant, Bahadur Shah II, the British decided to abolish the institution altogether. They deposed the last Mughal Emperor in 1857 and exiled him to Burma, where he died in 1862. Thus came to an end the Mughal dynasty, which had contributed a momentous chapter to the history of India and Pakistan.