The physicochemical interactions between drilling mud, rock and in-situ fluids in the "well - reservoir" system are of increasing interest to oilfield drilling researchers. Usually, the main aim of research is development of an optimal drilling fluid that provides trouble-free drilling, reducing non-productive time to eliminate various problems, and effectively exposes of oil and gas reservoirs under certain geological conditions. The history of research in this area goes back more than a dozen years. However, given the difficulties of modeling real geological conditions in the laboratory, and the characteristic attachment of previous results to them, there is still plenty of untapped potential. The purpose of this article is a literature review of the applied research methods to assess the level of scientific and technical development, evaluate the achieved research results, a possibility of their distribution to the target objects and further development.