This paper reviews the subject of track registration and development efficiencies of solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD). Collimated and uncollimated exposure geometries have been separately treated for the detection of (a) fission-fragment-like particles, and (b) ions belonging to the alpha group. Amorphous as well as crystalline track detectors have been considered. Special attention has been paid to the role of the “critical angle of etching” in controlling the process of the development of etchable latent damage trails. The critical angle of etching seems to put some serious limitations on the usefulness of the formulae normally employed for the calculation of solid angles subtended by the detectors on the sources. Efforts have been made to study the factors responsible for anisotropic track registration and development characteristics of crystalline detectors.