The quasi-static approximation for homogeneous and multilayer ellipsoidal particles is considered in detail. Expressions for the elements of the amplitude scattering matrix, as well as for the absorption and scattering cross sections, are presented for an arbitrary orientation of the particles relative to the incident radiation. The accuracy and the domain of applicability of the approximation are investigated for the elements of the scattering matrix of absorbing particles. Comparison of some approximate and exact methods showed that the quasi-static approximation gives good results (it is substantially more preferable than the Rayleigh and Rayleigh-Gans approximations), if the ratio of the largest size of a particle (or the boundaries of the main layer) to the smallest one does not exceed ∼3. A new rule of the effective medium theory for multilayer ellipsoidal particles is proposed, which adequately takes into account their structure.