Partial γ-ray production cross sections and the total radiative thermal-neutron capture cross section for the 185 Re(n, γ) 186 Re reaction were measured using the Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis facility at the Budapest Research Reactor with an enriched 185 Re target. The 186 Re cross sections were standardized using well-known 35 Cl(n, γ) 36 Cl cross sections from irradiation of a stoichiometric nat ReCl3 target. The resulting cross sections for transitions feeding the 186 Re ground state from low-lying levels below a cutoff energy of Ec = 746 keV were combined with a modeled probability of ground-state feeding from levels above Ec to arrive at a total cross section of σ0 = 111(6) b for radiative thermal-neutron capture on 185 Re. A comparison of modeled discrete-level populations with measured transition intensities led to proposed revisions for seven tentative spin-parity assignments in the adopted level scheme for 186 Re. Additionally, 102 primary γ-rays were measured, including 50 previously unknown. A neutron-separation energy of Sn = 6179.59(5) keV was determined from a global least-squares fit of the measured γ-ray energies to the known 186 Re decay scheme. The total capture cross section and separation energy results are comparable to earlier measurements of these values.