Ever since the discovery of carbon nanotubes, there has been an increasing interest in technologies that rely upon these incredibly small particles for their unique properties. However, assessment of their biological consequences has been riddled with assay limitations. Here, we describe application of a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium cell viability assay to study cytotoxicity of various carbon-based nanomaterials on cells and discuss some pitfalls of this method.