The present paper deals with properties of smoke oxide particles formed near the surface of burning aluminized solid propellants. The global physical picture of formation of this product is formulated. Based on this picture, it is demonstrated that smoke oxide particles are formed in two processes: combustion of non-agglomerating metal in the gas-phase layer above the surface and combustion of agglomerating metal in the surface layer of the propellant. Combustion mainly proceeds in the heterogeneous and gas-phase modes in these two cases, respectively.