diff --git a/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.c b/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.c
index c68971c60..8af1e1de1 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.c
@@ -443,23 +443,6 @@ cogl_x11_onscreen_get_window_xid (CoglOnscreen *onscreen)
       return winsys->onscreen_x11_get_window_xid (onscreen);
     }
 }
-
-uint32_t
-cogl_x11_onscreen_get_visual_xid (CoglOnscreen *onscreen)
-{
-  CoglContext *ctx = COGL_FRAMEBUFFER (onscreen)->context;
-  XVisualInfo *visinfo;
-  uint32_t id;
-
-  /* This should only be called for xlib based onscreens */
-  visinfo = cogl_xlib_renderer_get_visual_info (ctx->display->renderer);
-  if (visinfo == NULL)
-    return 0;
-
-  id = (uint32_t)visinfo->visualid;
-
-  return id;
-}
 #endif /* COGL_HAS_X11_SUPPORT */
 
 CoglFrameClosure *
diff --git a/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.h b/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.h
index 6504b56e5..8b2fd7245 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.h
+++ b/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.h
@@ -156,10 +156,6 @@ cogl_x11_onscreen_set_foreign_window_xid (CoglOnscreen *onscreen,
 uint32_t
 cogl_x11_onscreen_get_window_xid (CoglOnscreen *onscreen);
 
-/* XXX: we should maybe remove this, since nothing currently uses
- * it and the current implementation looks dubious. */
-uint32_t
-cogl_x11_onscreen_get_visual_xid (CoglOnscreen *onscreen);
 #endif /* COGL_HAS_X11 */
 
 /**