Team GB won six golds, seven silvers and six bronze for a grand total of 19 medals, one more than the previous best effort in Split in 1990.
The haul meant Team GB was second only to Russia in terms of total medals won, although France pushed the British into third place in the finals medals table on account of having won two more golds.
Success came from the very start as Mo Farah and Chris Thompson took gold and silver respectively in the Men's 10,000m on the first day of competition.
Ethiopian-born Farah won a second gold in the Men's 5,000m and he was joined at the top of the podium by Phillips Idowu in the Men's long jump, Andy Turner in the Men's 110m hurdles, and Dai Greene in the Men's 400m hurdles.
Jessica Ennis also claimed top prize in the Women's heptathlon after winning three of the seven events to finish on a championship record 6823 points, 45 points clear of her nearest rival Nataliya Dobrynska of Ukraine.
Farah and Thompson in the Men's 10,000 was not the only 1-2 achieved by Britain as Rhys Williams took second place in the Men's 400m hurdles behind his fellow Welshman Greene.
Four of the other five silver medals came in the Men's 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m courtesy of Mark Lewis-Francis, Christian Malcolm, Michael Bingham and Michael Rimmer respectively.
Lewis-Francis and Malcolm were both just beaten in the 100m and 200m sprints by 20-year-old Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre who won his first senior gold medals.
The final British silver medal came courtesy of the Men's 4x400m relay team of Bingham, Conrad Williams, Rob Tobin and Martyn Rooney.
Rooney also won bronze in the 400m behind silver medallist Bingham, while the other British male bronze medallists were Martyn Bernard in the high jump and Chris Tomlinson in the long jump.
There were two individual female bronze medals - for Perri Shakes-Drayton in the 400m hurdles and Jenny Meadows in the 800m.
Shakes-Drayton was also part of the third-placed Women's 4x400m squad, whose other members were Nicola Sanders, Marilyn Okoro and Lee McConnell.
But, while both the men's and women's 4x400m relay teams won medals, neither of the 4x100m relay squads even reached the final in one of the few black marks against Team GB.
Handover errors were to blame for both squads prompting UK Athletics head coach Charles Van Commenee to label the women's team "a disgrace" and the men's team as "not much better".
Dutchman Van Commenee was also unhappy at the number of key athletes who missed the championships through injury.
Absentees included 400m runner Christine Ohuruogu, long jumper Greg Rutherford, javelin thrower Goldie Sayers, heptathlete Kelly Sotherton and long-distance runner Jo Pavey.
But, having easily beaten the target of 10-15 medals before the meeting, 2012 chief organiser Lord Sebastian Coe thinks Van Commenee will be satisfied by the progress.
Certainly, the results suggest that there will be some home success in two years' time in London.
Medals Table
| GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL | |
| 1. Russia | 10 | 6 | 8 | 24 |
| 2. France | 8 | 6 | 4 | 18 |
| 3. Great Britain | 6 | 7 | 6 | 19 |
4. Germany | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
5th Turkey, 6th Spain, 7th Ukraine, 8th Poland 9th Belarus, 10th Croatia, 11th Belgium, 12th Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Switzerland, Slovakia, 17th Italy, 18th Netherlands, Romania, 20th Portugal, 21st Bulgaria, Ireland, Sweden, 24th Hungary, 25th Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Finland
Individual Team GB medallists
GOLD
Mo Farah Men's 10,000m
Phillips Idowu Men's triple jump
Andy Turner Men's 110m hurdles
Jessica Ennis Women's heptathlon
Mo Farah Men's 5,000m
Dai Greene Men's 400m hurdles
SILVER
Chris Thompson Men's 10,000m
Mark Lewis-Francis Men's 100m
Michael Bingham Men's 400m
Christian Malcolm Men's 200m
Rhys Williams Men's 400m hurdles
Michael Rimmer Men's 800m
Conrad Williams, Michael Bingham, Rob Tobin, Martyn Rooney Men's 4x400m relay
BRONZE
Martyn Bernard Men's high jump
Martyn Rooney Men's 400m
Perri Shakes-Drayton Women's 400m hurdles
Jenny Meadows Women's 800m
Nicola Sanders, Marilyn Okoro, Lee McConnell, Perri Shakes-Drayton Women's 4x400m relay
Chris Tomlinson Men's long jump
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