Summary: Pharmacotherapy of pain is often based on the need for polytherapy. This allows, on the one hand, to increase therapeutic eff ectiveness while reducing the risk of drug-induced side effects. In practice, drug combinations in the pharmacotherapy of pain are supposed to improve the eff ectiveness and safety of the treatment. The role of combining drugs is to obtain an additive eff ect, which we are talking about when we are dealing with adding the eff ects of drugs used simultaneously. However, when drugs combined in therapy potentiate their therapeutic eff ects, we are talking about synergism of action. The paper describes recommended and non-recommended drug combinations in the pharmacotherapy of pain.