  Current state of the experimental physics of the surface discharge has been
examined in the literature review. The existing works were classified by the
mediums, where the surface discharge is explored, by the types of experimental
setups and by the type of measured data. The conditional scheme of the surface
discharge, which demonstrates the generality of the dielectric barrier
discharge and the sliding one, was constructed. Some of the works have an
applied purpose, therefore, the experimental setups are specific devices. These
experimental setups have a lack of interest for studying physics of the surface
discharge. There is no generality in the other experimental setups aimed at
studying the phenomenon. All experiments are divided into two groups Scheme of
experimental setup where more aspects of the surface discharge can be taken
into account and their relationship traced was suggested.
