His work focuses on the private lives of the Dutch merchant class. He developed a specific type of small-scale portrait known as a cabinet piece. These works often show figures from the back, such as in A Man with an Arquebus, from Behind. Ter Borch was a specialist in the depiction of textiles. He captured the way light hits heavy satin and silk with technical precision. His scenes contain psychological ambiguity, leaving the true nature of a social encounter to the imagination.

Modern collectors value Ter Borch for his quiet restraint and technical skill. His compositions do not rely on grand drama. Instead, they offer a sense of stillness and observation. Pieces like A Man Counting Money or Drinking a Toast fit well in contemporary homes because of their intimate size and neutral colour palettes. These prints provide a window into seventeenth-century Dutch life through a lens of calm clarity.