The analytical and numerical description of the effective dissolution kinetics of spherical particles into a solvent is often difficult in chemical and metallurgical engineering. The crucial first step is to identify the dissolution mechanisms, and subsequently, relevant kinetics parameters can be calculated. In this article, three frequently used approximations, i.e., the invariant-field (IF) (Laplace), reverse-growth (RG), and invariant-size (IS) (stationary-interface) approximations, are systematically discussed and compared with numerical simulation results. The relative errors of the dissolution curves and total dissolution time of the three approximations to the numerical simulations are calculated. The results reveal the appropriate application ranges of the approximations for given precision levels. With further experimental validation, this research provides a methodology to properly assess dissolution kinetics and adequately estimate effective diffusion coefficients and activation energy under the experimental uncertainties. (c) 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 2926-2934, 2017