The friction theory (FT) approach relates the viscosity of a fluid to its equation of state (EoS), and it is known to give good results for a large number of compounds over wide ranges of temperature and pressure. Previous FT versions were restricted to use EoS of the van der Waals type, i.e., EoS explicitly consisting of a repulsive and an attractive term, which limited the number of usable EoS as well as the accuracy of the viscosity predictions. In this work, the restriction is removed by means of a pragmatic generalized definition of repulsive and attractive terms based on the internal pressure concept. As a result, the FT theory can be extended to practically all types of EoS, from theoretical ones (e.g., EoS based on thermostatistical or renormalization theories) to the highly accurate empirical reference EoS. In combination with the later, the FT is shown to represent experimental viscosity data for several fluids, including water, with an accuracy as high as that required for reference models. Additionally, some relevant phenomena, such as the critical anomaly, appear to follow naturally from the physics already built into the EoS.