The ever growing need to develop new materials for specific applications is leading to increased demand for thermodynamic values which have not been measured so far. This necessitates the use of-estimated values for evaluating the feasibility or suitability of different proposed processes for producing materials with particular compositions and properties. Methods for estimating thermodynamic properties of inorganic and metallic substances are presented in this paper. A general categorization into estimation methods for heat capacities, entropies and enthalpies of formation has been used. Some comparisons of estimated values with experimental data are presented and possible future developments in estimation techniques are discussed.