In spite of the relatively advanced technologies that exist to respond to and clean up oil spills, the sampling strategies employed to evaluate the success of these operations and site remediation often fall short of being able to defend their findings as they are not adapted sufficiently for accidental events. Traditional experimental designs are not applicable to spill situations since these events preclude replication, prior to knowledge of site conditions and independence of samples. Many other factors may complicate the analysis of marine and freshwater spills. Natural variability, as well as spatial and temporal autocorrelation, must be considered in the design of sampling campaigns. We have reviewed the recent literature on oil spill evaluation and sampling designs in order to evaluate and propose those techniques that are the most applicable to accidental spills and the restoration of sites affected by these spills.(1) Techniques that respond to the aforementioned criteria,will be retained for further consideration and experimentation.