The objective of this paper is to characterize fluid flow fields as well as grinding bead motion in stirred media mills. The fluid flow and grinding bead motion in media mills were visualized with a light-sheet technique thereby revealing information about fluid flow and grinding bead velocity distributions as well as zones of high differences of grinding bead velocities. The influence of fluid properties as well as stirrer geometry with respect to grinding bead properties on grinding bead motion was found to be significant.