Widespread use, a variety of materials used as floor coverings, as well as a large number of test methods for assessment of smoke-forming ability adopted in each country separately, pose new challenges for improving the methodology for assessing the ability of flooring emit smoke during a fire. It should be noted that the main normative document in Russia containing requirements for the assessment of smoke-forming ability, did not receive a renovation for 24 years. The primary purposes of the research are a comparative analysis of the currently existing methods of valuation of smoke generation flooring in different countries and detection of sufficient prerequisites for critical perception and possible improvement of Interstate Standard 12.1.044-89* "Occupational safety standards system. Fire safety of substances and materials. The range of indicators and methods for their determination". We have selected the basic methods operating on the territory of Russia, Europe, USA, Japan and Australia for comparison. The conclusions of the analytical survey were summarized in the basic specialities and the subsequent analysis of the phenomenological picture of the process of research of floorings' smoke-forming ability. Special substance is in arguments, that stipulate improvement of the assessment of smoke-forming ability in accordance with Interstate Standard 12.1.004-89* that reflect mainly inability to use the test results as input data for the simulation without corrective calculations, as well as monitoring of the dynamics of smoke and, as a consequence, determining the rate of smoke emission.