Although the measurement of the laser-induced damage threshold is a field of permanent research effort since the late 1960s, the optimization of the damage handling capability is still a key issue for the development of high performance laser systems. In conjunction with the ever increasing demand for lasers with high average power, energy, extreme wavelengths or short pulses, the resistance to laser damage has to be optimized with a special regard to the different damage mechanisms. Therefore, a report of the current status of the laser-induced damage threshold is given for the most interesting components and laser systems applied in science and industry. Further, several results of recently performed damage investigations in the NIR spectral range and for ultra short pulses are presented in this paper. The reliability of damage threshold measurements is crucially depending on the chosen test parameters. The importance of the different parameter values were investigated carefully during several Round-Robin experiments. These investigations can be regarded as the basis of the standardization process leading to the International Standard ISO 11254. In this paper, selected results of the comparative campaigns in damage testing are described, especially in the field of ns and fs pulses.