Abstract: Owing to the better understanding of the physico-chemical processes whichoccur during the spark discharge and of the mechanism of the latter, theprecision and accuracy of the results of the spark source mass spectrometricanalysis have been obviously improved. The improvoment ol the ion sourcemade it possible to limit the energy spread of the beam to～100 ev, whichmay result in great simplification of spark source mass spectrometer and incre-asing sensitivity. The analytical capability of SSMS has been greatly enhanc-ed by the use of electrical detection mode, computer data handling, isotopicdilution method and the pretreatment of samples. Advances in all these aspe-cts bring a bright prospect to the development of SSMS.