Inheritance in C++ allows a derived class to acquire properties and methods from a base class, promoting code reusability and maintainability. There are various types of inheritance, including single, multiple, multilevel, hierarchical, and hybrid, each with specific syntax and rules regarding access specifiers. Constructors and destructors are not inherited but can be called in a derived class, and function overriding enables polymorphism, which can occur at runtime or compile time using virtual functions.